FoodDrinkEurope Sets Out Priorities for the Greek Presidency

06 Jan 2014 --- FoodDrinkEurope, the trade body representing Europe’s food and drink industry, has published a short brochure outlining the priorities of Europe’s food and drink manufacturers for the Greek Presidency of the Council of the EU, which runs until 30 June of this year.

Grouped across four key policy areas, namely: (i) promoting a food and drink industrial policy, (ii) innovating for growth, (iii) promoting balanced diets and healthy lifestyles and (iv) encouraging a more sustainable business model, FoodDrinkEurope calls on the Greek Presidency to focus on a set of issues that are important in boosting the competitiveness of Europe’s food and drink manufacturers. These include:

• Developing an ambitious and proactive policy for food and drink and establishing a permanent High Level Forum to enforce this policy;
• Delivering on a genuine European Innovation Union both by promoting a science-based approach to new technologies and by overcoming bottlenecks to bring new products to the market;
• Ensuring that the food and drink industry is duly consulted during the ongoing implementation discussions about the new EU labelling rules , in particular with regard to those implementing measures which have a direct impact on food and drink manufacturing; and,
• Supporting the implementation of the Joint Declaration on Food Wastage ‘Every Crumb Counts’, a joint stakeholder initiative spearheaded by FoodDrinkEurope, the efforts to work towards preventing edible food waste, and promoting a life-cycle approach to reducing wastage.

Upon the publication of the ‘Priorities for the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union’ brochure, FoodDrinkEurope President, Jesús Serafín Pérez commented: “FoodDrinkEurope welcomes the Greek Presidency of the Council of the European Union. As the biggest manufacturing sector in the EU in terms of turnover and employment, we look forward to engaging actively with the Greek Presidency on key priorities in order to ensure the sustained growth of Europe’s food and drink sector.”