EU Commission fails to deliver balance on the Vision for Agriculture and Food
Press Release:
The European Commission published its Vision for Agriculture and Food. A plan set to define EU Agriculture and Food Policy for the mandate and beyond.
The Vision was set to be based on the conclusions of the Strategic Dialogue on Agriculture, which the EVU welcomed as a balanced, depolarised document with the capacity of gathering agreement from all sides of the table.
However, “the Vision published today fails to deliver on the promised consensus, ignoring the agreed upon calls on the need for food side policies”, states Rafael Pinto, Senior Policy Manager at the EVU, adding that “It largely ignores consumers and dietary shifts at a time when 1 out of every 5 deaths in the EU is caused by dietary imbalances”.
With over +130 farmers, health, environmental and animal welfare organisations (a monumental consensus) recently calling for the development of an EU Plant-Based Action Plan, with strong support from MEP’s and other organisations on the topic of Protein Diversification, the Vision refrains from any mention of “plant protein”, “plant-based” or “diversification”.
For Rafael Pinto, the same document mentions the word ‘livestock’ 11 times. “We agree that it’s needed, but a mention to ‘pulses’, at least once, would be welcomed. It would be a sign of acknowledgement and respect for the broad consensus developed around the topic.”
“It seems like the Commission is trying to end polarization by eliminating one, very large, side of the conversation”, states Pinto.
The only reference to protein production and consumption imbalances in the document states that “We need to consider both the way protein is produced and consumed in the EU” with the Commission promising to deliver a “comprehensive plan” to address these challenges.
The Vision also sets to review rules for Public Procurement to ensure higher quality and sustainability in public catering.
“We expect the Commission and other institutions to be ambitious in developing the few sustainability concerns expressed over the document in order to mitigate its shortcomings, and stand ready to collaborate to improve EU food systems”, concludes the EVU.
