With just eight months to go until the end of von der Leyen’s term, the message was: Let’s take a step back from making policy and just talk instead.Īnd that this change of tack also comes just weeks after the main champion of the Green Deal, former Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans, left Brussels for national politics. Indeed, the German Commission president put an emphasis on food supply and advanced the idea of a “strategic dialogue” on farming, which, in her vision, should help overcome polarisation and foster, well…, dialogue. This year, the Commission chief did not disappoint the agri-food sector, g iving ample space to farming and nutrition in her annual State of the Union speech.įollowing rumours that the Commission might not present proposals for a Sustainable Food Systems Law and an animal welfare overhaul – two key elements of the Farm to Fork Strategy and among the last ones still outstanding – before next year’s EU elections, all the agri-food bubble eyes were on von der Leyen for any hints.īut in over one hour of speech, the two files or even the words ‘Farm to Fork’ were not mentioned once.Īnd while regarding animals, von der Leyen might be better known for ponies and wolves, her State of the Union speech this week came as a swan song for her sustainable food flagship, the Farm to Fork Strategy.

A little more conversation, a little less action, please – no, that doesn’t come from a bad Elvis impersonator, but from Ursula von der Leyen and describes her new ‘softly, softly’ approach to food system transformation intended to replace the hard-hitting Farm to Fork strategy.

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