Dear Rural Pact Community member,

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is looking for experts for an upcoming Territorial Impact Assessment (TIA) / Rural proofing workshop on the Legislative framework for Sustainable food systems announced in the European Commission's Farm to Fork Strategy. This workshop will be the first of its kind since the CoR included rural proofing in its active subsidiarity and better regulation toolbox.

Any EU policy may have very different intended and unintended impacts across the various EU territories. Depending on their characteristics, some regions may benefit from an EU initiative while others may be (partly) negatively affected.

The CoR has therefore been promoting the use of Territorial impact assessment (TIA) to ex-ante identify, assess and address possible asymmetric impacts of EU policies and legislation on EU territories. The CoR also organises itself a number of TIA workshops each year to support the work of CoR rapporteurs on opinions.

The European Commission is working on a proposal for a horizontal framework law "to establish new foundations for future food policies by introducing sustainability objectives and principles on the basis of an integrated food system approach".

The CoR is organising an in-person workshop on Thursday 22 June 2023 at the CoR premises in Brussels, from 11.00 to 17.00. It will be conducted in English using the ESPON TIA methodology and tool.  This workshop will pay specific attention to the impact on rural areas while taking into account impact on all territories.

In the morning session, the CoR rapporteur on sustainable food systems and expert speakers will make introductory remarks. Following that, the methodology will be explained to the participants and a preliminary discussion will take place. In the afternoon session, the territorial effects of the discussed policies will be showed to participants, who will then comment on them and formulate possible policy proposals.

The CoR is particularly interested in bringing input from local and regional authorities for this workshop as cities and regions have a key role in shaping "food environments", ensuring that sustainable and healthy diets are the easiest and most affordable choice while supporting sustainable producers. For instance, local and regional authorities can facilitate access to healthy food options with an adequate spatial planning (e.g. avoiding fast food restaurants in the vicinity of schools or initiating food markets) and through food public procurement in schools, hospitals, elderly care homes (with sustainability criteria favouring healthy, seasonal and local food and short supply chains).

Should you be interested or know of experts, we would highly appreciate your providing us (territorial.impact@cor.europa.eu) with their name, email address and organisation by Monday 12 June, so that we can reach out to them to participate in the TIA.

Please note that the number of participants will be limited. In accordance with the CoR financial regulation, participants will be entitled to a flat-rate allowance and the reimbursement of travel expenses.

Kind regards,

The CoR TIA and rural proofing team