Common EU Food Policy: Euro Coop Contributions

During the last two years, Euro Coop has closely followed and directly contributed to the work of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), headed by the former UN Special Rapporteur on the right for food Olivier De Schutter, with the aim of mapping out a new governance architecture for food systems.

The exercise – which has involved more than 400 EU stakeholders active in the agri-food domain – culminated on 7 February 2019 with the launch of the Report “Towards a Common Food Policy for the European Union”, in which Euro Coop and co-operatives are explicitly featured.

The basic assumption on which the study is founded is that policies tackling food at EU level are scattered and contradictory, hence the need to come up with a Common EU Food Policy aimed at overcoming current inefficiencies.

The launch of the publication took place on the same day in high-level events at the European Parliament and European Economic and Social Committee, in which Euro Coop was invited to participate as a speaker.

In her intervention, Deputy Secretary General Rosita Zilli reiterated Euro Coop members' inherent responsibility, as consumer co-operatives, towards providing their consumer members with safe and quality food at reasonable prices, all the while pushing for more responsible consumption and responsible production. Euro Coop's featuring in the Report is a testament to our members' work in this area. However, there exist certain legislative and policy barriers, which could be largely eliminated with the establishment of a Common Food Policy.

Featured guests included the President of the European Economic and Social Committee Luca Jahier, the EU Commissioner for Health & Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis as well as the Member of the European Parliament Sirpa Pietikäinen, among others.