The EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F), central to the European Green Deal, was intended to accelerate the transition towards sustainable food systems, making them ‘fair, healthy and environmentally friendly,’ yet very little of its ambition has been realised. As we embark on the second term of von der Leyen’s Commission, this roundtable will reflect on how the EU’s agrifood policies from the last five years have contributed to making EU food systems more sustainable, identify what is still missing, and explore major bottlenecks that we can expect in trying to reach a genuine transition. Our expert panel will exchange views from a variety of perspectives on F2F’s legacy, the potential role of a Sustainable Food Systems legislative framework, the recommendations of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture, and necessary reforms of key instruments such as the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to align them with the EU’s climate and environmental goals.
Speakers
| Gaëlle Marion | Head of Unit for Environmental Sustainability (B.2), Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission | Gaëlle MARION is the Head of Unit for Environmental Sustainability in the Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission. Before that, she was the Head of Unit for Conception and consistency of rural development. She has been involved in the development of the Common Agricultural Policy since 2007, both on rural development and farm income support, and horizontal aspects such as governance, delivery models and networking. Her past career as Secretary General of Euromontana, a European association for the development of mountain areas, gave her in-depth expertise on territorial challenges, local development and interlinks between agriculture and the environment. She is an agro-economist from Agro-ParisTech (1993), France. |
| Alan Matthews | Professor Emeritus of European Agricultural Policy, University of Dublin Trinity College | Alan Matthews is Professor Emeritus of European Agricultural Policy at the University of Dublin Trinity College, Ireland and a former President of the European Association of Agricultural Economists. His research focuses on EU agricultural policy, originally with an interest in agricultural trade policy, and agricultural trade and development issues. More recently, he has been a member of Ireland’s Climate Change Advisory Council and has taken a special interest in the potential role of market-based instruments to accelerate emissions mitigation in the agricultural and land use sectors. He has provided policy advice to the OECD, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the European Parliament, and the European Committee of the Regions, among others. He is a regular contributor to the blog capreform.eu on issues relating to the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy. |
| Giulia Riedo | Sustainable Farming Policy Officer, WWF | Giulia has a background in International affairs and Climate Adaptation. She worked at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on climate resilience and land rights first in Rome and then in South Africa. She has been working for WWF European Policy Office since 2021 and she is the expert on sustainable agriculture and food. |
| Roberto Talenti | Doctoral Researcher in Agri-Environmental Law, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies | Roberto Talenti is a PhD candidate in Agri-Environmental Law at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy). He holds an MA in International Security Studies and an LLM in International Environmental Law. His primary research focuses on analysing the EU regulatory framework for mitigating livestock emissions and critiquing the growth-oriented ontology underlying international law. He has previously served as a visiting researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels and the European Environmental Bureau. He is a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law and the International Society for Ecological Economics. |
| Vítor Rodrigues | Board member of the National Confederation of Agriculture (CNA), and Coordinating Committee Member of the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) | Vítor Rodrigues is a member of the Board of CNA - National Confederation of Agriculture, and of the Coordinating Committee of ECVC - European Coordinator of La Via Campesina. He is responsible for the CNA's International Department and for managing the protocol on the Portuguese branch of Farm Accountancy Data Network, at CNA. At the European Level, he participates at the ECVC’s Working Groups on Public Policies, Peasant Rights and International Trade. Vítor (born in 1979 and currently living in Braga) has an MSc in Agronomic Engineering and a Post-Graduate in Climate Change and Sustainable Development Policies. |
Moderator
| Annalisa Savaresi | Professor of International Environmental Law, University of Eastern Finland | Annalisa Savaresi is an environmental lawyer with 20 years of experience working with international, regional, and national governmental and non-governmental organizations. She earned her PhD from the Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen in 2013. Her academic portfolio includes over 50 peer-reviewed articles and contributions to renowned collections. At the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), Annalisa directs the Joint Nordic Master Programme in Environmental Law and oversees CCEEL’s contributions to the Horizon Europe project RETOOL and the Jean Monnet network, Green Deal Net. Annalisa serves as the Director for Europe within the Global Network on Human Rights and the Environment and has been a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law since 2009. She has provided expert evidence to legislative bodies such as the UK, EU, and Scottish Parliaments |
The roundtable debate series "Key Issues in EU Climate and Sustainability Governance" delves into pressing issues surrounding climate and sustainability governance in the context of the European Green Deal. Each debate offers a platform for exchanging unique perspectives, featuring a diverse panel of experts and stakeholders, including policymakers, researchers, civil society and industry representatives.
