Dear readers,
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed in her State of the Union address for the Commission to organise citizens’ panels ahead of certain legislative proposals, starting with the proposal to establish EU targets to reduce food waste. The first such panel, gathering around 150 citizens (randomly selected and representative of EU diversity), will meet on 3 weekends, between December 2022 and February 2023 to exchange views with citizens and harness their insights on how to step up action to reduce food waste in the EU. The outcome of this panel will be citizens’ recommendations to support the Commission’s work on food waste, including the legislative proposal to set EU food waste reduction targets. Recommendations will also serve as a guide to help Member States in achieving the EU food waste reduction targets.
The first meeting of the panel takes place this weekend from Friday, 16 until Sunday 18 December, in Brussels. Following welcoming remarks from European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides and a message from Vice-President for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Šuica, citizens will have an introduction to the topic of food waste and an initial discussion on Friday afternoon (14:00-18:00). Participants will work in smaller groups on Saturday (09:00-18:00) to brainstorm on the issue and discuss solutions to prevent food waste. Their ideas will then be further refined on Sunday (09:00-13:00) to guide the panel’s further work. Find the detailed agenda here.
Follow the discussions through web-streaming, via the links below:
On 17 December, the discussions in small working groups will not be web-streamed.
