Comitato economico e sociale europeo
An extraordinary NAT Bureau meeting took place in France, Rouen, on 8-9 September 2022, upon the initiative of Mr Arnold Puech d'Alissac (Member of the Group of Employers). The aim was to explore the French approach on carbon-farming as a follow-up of the EESC opinion on sustainable carbon cycles, as well as the agricultural assets of the Normandy region.
Strengthening local and regional food production and processing within the EU and guaranteeing decent working conditions for all workers in agriculture and the wider food sector are important objectives in seeking to improve the sustainability of the European food supply chain. Other aspects of key importance to sustainability are fair international trading practices, encouraging more women and young people into the farming sector, and structured stakeholder involvement and dialogue.
Extraordinary meeting of the Diversity Europe Group in the context of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU and the Conference on the Future of Europe on 29 November 2021
The EU has some of the strongest regulations in the world on the use of plant protection products (PPPs – pesticides) and other chemicals in agriculture. However, there is still room for improvement to achieve greater regulatory convergence to reduce the risks of using PPPs, and to guarantee a healthy and safe food supply for an ever-growing world population.
The NAT section invited the two winners of the COPA COGECA 2021 Innovation Award for Women Farmers to join its Section meeting of 15 April 2021 to bring practical and innovative ideas in their debates.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted the opinion From Farm to Fork: a sustainable food strategy at its September Plenary session, following the European Commission's communication on the Farm to Fork Strategy - for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system. As an integral part of the European Green Deal, this is the first EU strategy claiming to encompass the entirety of the food chain.
La pandemia di Covid-19 conferma la natura geostrategica del settore agroalimentare e la necessità di mantenere un'autosufficienza alimentare nell'Unione europea. Il Comitato economico e sociale europeo (CESE) accoglie pertanto con favore la nuova misura proposta dalla Commissione europea per sostenere le aziende agricole e le PMI agroalimentari che incontrano problemi di liquidità e per garantire la loro sopravvivenza economica in questo periodo di crisi. Tuttavia il CESE ritiene che, per attuare tale misura, la Commissione europea dovrebbe prevedere un fondo straordinario al di fuori del bilancio della politica agricola comune.
On 19 February 2020, Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski met Maurizio Reale, the president of the EESC’s NAT section to explore possibilities for cooperation.
Alla sessione plenaria del 20 febbraio scorso, il Comitato economico e sociale europeo (CESE) ha dato il benvenuto ai promotori dell'iniziativa dei cittadini europei Eat Original - Smaschera il tuo cibo, il cui obiettivo è chiedere alla Commissione europea di imporre un'etichettatura obbligatoria di origine per tutti i prodotti alimentari, al fine di prevenire le frodi e garantire il diritto dei consumatori all'informazione.
One year after the European Commission had launched its updated European Bio-economy Strategy, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) together with the Commission and the Committee of the Regions (CoR) organised an event on European Bio-economy: Regions, Cities and Civil Society on October 16th 2019, in Brussels.
