Agriculture and food production are at the heart of Europe’s identity, economy and strategic resilience. Representing farmers, food producers and the wider agri-industry, including seed producers, breeders and many other essential actors, the European agri-food chain works every day to ensure that Europeans have access to safe, nutritious and high-quality food. In times of global uncertainty, these sectors remain a cornerstone of stability and security for the EU.
At the same time, the agri-food chain operates within a regulatory environment that has become increasingly complex. Certain EU rules are difficult to navigate or no longer reflect current realities, leading to uncertainty and administrative pressure across the value chain. Several of the requests for more streamlined, practical and future-proof legislation are still awaiting consideration by the European Commission. Addressing these issues through meaningful simplification would help create clearer conditions for innovation, investment and competitiveness.
Against this backdrop, a broad group of agri-food organisations welcomes the European Commission’s 2024–2029 commitment to reduce unnecessary administrative burden, modernise legislation and strengthen EU competitiveness. They emphasise the importance of ensuring that these commitments translate into practical and effective improvements for all actors involved in producing Europe’s food.
To that end, the organisations are encouraging the Commission to present strong and ambitious “omnibus packages” for environment, food and feed. These should aim to make existing rules clearer, more coherent and better suited to the realities faced by operators on the ground. The coalition underlines that targeted, well-designed adjustments can help remove barriers to innovation, streamline administrative processes and support more sustainable solutions.
This call follows the October European Council’s recognition that major simplification efforts across all policy areas are essential to strengthening Europe’s competitiveness. Simplifying and modernising EU rules would support farmers, bolster food security, stimulate investment and build a more sustainable and resilient future for Europe’s food system.
