Commission to publish Farm to Fork strategy on 29 April 2020… or will it?

The Farm to Fork strategy and the EU biodiversity strategy – both essential components of the European Green Deal –foreseen to be published on 29 April 2020, will be delayed.

The Farm to Fork Strategy was initially supposed to be published on 25 March 2020, but disruptions due to Covid-19 delayed the publication date to 29 April. However, the publication of both the Farm to Fork strategy and the EU biodiversity strategy is delayed. Vice-President Timmermans said the following in an address to the European Parliament’s ENVI committee: “The initial plan [for the publication of both strategies] was end of April. It might be a couple of weeks later, certainly not months”. It seems that Mr. Timmermans is putting maximum pressure for the publication to be delayed of only a couple of weeks, not more. As such, the publication of both strategies is now announced for 20 May 2020 at the latest. 

IFOAM EU will keep up the pressure to avoid a further delay of the publication of these strategies, and a weakening of their ambition.

On 15 April 2020, NGOs sent a letter to Vice-President Timmermans and other relevant commissioners to argue for not postponing the publication of the Farm to Fork strategy. This letter was picked up by important “EU bubble” news outlets such as EurActiv and AgraFacts.