The sustainability of the EU agri-food sector with future enlargement

Scope and objectives

On Monday 29 April (10:00 -13:00 CEST), the European Economic and Social Committee will hold a public hearing on the sustainability of the EU agri-food sector in the context of future enlargement.

The event aims to provide recommendations to ensure that future enlargement of the EU will benefit both farmers in candidate countries and in the EU, while effectively contributing to the achievement of the EU's sustainability objectives and Agenda 2030.

In the course of the event, civil society representatives from candidate countries and EU stakeholders will:

• exchange views on the opportunities and challenges for the EU-agri-food sector;
• identify the contributions of the accession countries to the EU's social, environmental and economic sustainability

This event will be webstreamed on our website and interpreted into EN, FR and ES.

Context

In the Granada declaration, the leaders of the European Union confirmed looking ahead to the prospect of a further enlarged Union as a driver for improving the economic and social conditions of European citizens, while fostering the values on which the Union is founded.

The enlargement of the EU will provide opportunities for the Union to achieve a greater open food autonomy and food security and become an even more important agri-food trade partner globally, while disseminating his high sustainability standards (social, environmental and economic sustainability of the agri-food sector). In particular, when Ukraine is to join the EU, it will add one third of arable land to the EU and almost one third of the cereal production.

In this context, the European Commission requested the committee to develop an exploratory opinion on How to ensure the social, environmental and economic sustainability of the EU agri-food sector with future enlargement?.

The objective of the exploratory opinion is to provide recommendations to prepare the ground ensuring that future enlargement is beneficial both to farmers in candidate countries and in the EU and effectively contributes to achieving the EU's sustainability objectives and Agenda 2030.