FoodDrinkEurope calls for EU Industrial Policy

FoodDrinkEurope has called on the European Commission to develop an EU Industrial Policy for food to take into account the unique needs and concerns of Europe’s food and drink industry.

Speaking following the publication of the FoodDrinkEurope position paper on an EU industrial policy for food, the organisation’s president, Jesús Serafín Pérez, said: “As the largest manufacturing sector in the European economy, generating €956bn in EU GDP, employing 4.1 million people directly and contributing €93bn of the value added, Europe’s food industry is central to the elaboration of any Industrial Policy developed by the EU.”

FoodDrinkEurope’s members have identified a number of challenges which must be met in order to maximise the economic performance of the sector.

These include:

• The elimination of any remaining barriers to trade and preventing further fragmentation of the Internal Market for the benefit of consumers and food operators alike.
• A better regulatory framework which encourages businesses to invest in Europe, underpinned by sound science and legal certainty.
• Boosting the environmental sustainability of the sector, placing green growth at the heart of companies’ business models.
• Guaranteeing access to finance for companies (particularly for SMEs).
• Securing open markets for EU food exports, while at the same time, guaranteeing access to agricultural raw materials imports which are unavailable in Europe or available in insufficient quantities.
• A central role for and further investment in, research and development.

Source: FoodDrinkEurope

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