EU Recovery Package falls short of Building Back Better

27 May 2020

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today set out a major €750 billion coronavirus recovery package, ‘Next Generation EU’, promising a green, digital, resilient Europe – a move Friends of the Earth Europe welcomed, but cautioned falls short of building back a better Europe.

20 May 2020

Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies: small steps forward instead of a giant leap

The European Commission today launched two packages of policies as part of the European Green Deal - the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies. [1]

17 April 2020

Peasants are feeding us, even in times of pandemic

19 February 2020

Vestager’s digital age vision threatens a “dystopian future for farming”

Europe's farmers face a "dystopian future" if the EU fails to regulate digital technologies used in agriculture, claims Friends of the Earth Europe in a new report.

27 January 2020

EU Commission aims to slash food safety standards for Trump trade deal

The EU Commission is trying to lower EU food safety standards as part of a rushed trade deal with the USA, according to statements from senior trade officials.

EU trade commissioner Hogan and other trade officials have confirmed their intention to reduce ‘non-tariff’ barriers on farm goods in trade negotiations. This could bring unsafe food, only tested for lower US standards, on European consumers’ plates.

EU Commission president von der Leyen has said she wants to push the trade deal through in a few weeks to avoid any new tariffs on EU/German car exports.

15 December 2019

#GoodFoodGoodFarming: thousands mobilise for a better food system

The second edition of the #GoodFoodGoodFarming days of action took place in October with around 100 actions in 23 countries across Europe.

Denmark, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Spain, Czech Republic
11 December 2019

EU Green Deal: fails to slam on the brakes

In only her second week in office, new European Commission President von der Leyen has today set out a major environmental package to set the EU on a new environmental and climate path.

4 December 2019

System change or bust

System change: Europe’s environmental and climate warning signals are flashing red according to a comprehensive ‘State of the Environment’ survey published by the European Environment Agency (EEA).

25 November 2019

#SaveBeesAndFarmers campaign launches to ban pesticides, and save farmers and nature

A European Citizens' Initiative launches today to phase out synthetic pesticides by 2035, support farmers, and save bees and nature. If it gathers one million signatures by September 2020, the EU Commission and Parliament must consider turning the campaign's demands into law.

90 organisations from 17 EU countries are jointly launching the campaign, with the support of organic farming associations.

Austria, Germany
30 October 2019

Campaign to save Czech forests reaches parliament

*UPDATE*

On 31 October 2019, Hnuti Duha / Friends of the Earth Czechia celebrated after the Czech Parliament signed off on a few important legal reforms to the Czech forest law that will help create more living forests. The changes should ensure that more dead wood is left on the forest floor, and stocks of deer and other forest animals for hunting are reduced. These reforms should help improve the natural restoration of Czechia's dying forests.  But the fight for resilient forests is not over and other changes now need to be made.

Czech Republic
22 October 2019

Protesting with tractors and people power for a better CAP

With the CAP reform entering a hot phase of negotiations, farmers and activists used the momentum to show that EU’s food and farming policies concern millions of people. A demonstration gathered over 1000 people who marched on the streets of Strasbourg to the European Parliament. Farmers headed the rally with several tractors, side by side with consumers and activists.

Pages

All news for this issue