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Urgent EU action needed for sustainable and healthy food
Jeroom R.
started this petition to
European Minsters and EU Commission
To: European Ministers, EU Commission and European Parliament members.
Between February and May 2021 the EU parliament will discuss, amend and vote the EU Green deal for food: the Farm to Fork Strategy .
Our most important message is: our food needs a true price, a more honest price, to make healthy and sustainable food the easy, cheapest choice. And meat should become more expensive, to include environmental costs. We need your support to amend this Farm to Fork Strategy.
Why is this important?
Avoiding or reducing meat consumption is ‘the single biggest way’ to reduce our impact on the planet (climate change, deforestation, air and water pollution). It will massively bring down public health care spending and can help guarantee a better future for farmers and farm animals, if tax revenues are used partly to pay farmers improve sustainability and animal welfare standards.EU member states will also discuss food and agriculture taxes and subsidies for the Green Deal for food: the EU Farm to Fork Strategy . This EU Strategy is a first step to tackle the environmental and health crisis in our food system. The EU Strategy includes to move to a " more plant-based diet with less red and processed meat and with more fruits and vegetables. This will reduce risks of life-threatening diseases and the environmental impact of the food system". Therefore, supermarkets need to stop low pricing of meat . The EU Commission wants " EU tax systems to reflect that the price of food includes the real costs in terms of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions" . This means: meat and dairy should be taxed more, like we tax CO2 from fossil energy. The Strategy also proposes to "reduce the VAT rate to zero percent for (organic) fruit and vegetables". Great! But EU Ministers and lobby groups try to block the EU Food Strategy. A lot is at stake.
5 elements to be amended in the Farm to Fork Strategy, to make the proposal more specific:
- Set measurable targets to reduce the EU consumption of meat , dairy and eggs while reducing industrial animal production, e.g. 10-25% reduction in 2030.
- Ensure fair prices for EU farmers producing sustainably with high animal welfare standards, and EU import taxes for meat with lower CO2-standards, eg. Brazilian beef.
- EU action to encourage and finally oblige member states to make sure meat and dairy at retail level reflect the real cost of pollution and greenhouse gas-emissions by 2025 . E.g. excise duty (CO2-tax) or animal welfare meat tax like Germany proposed.
- Half of the tax revenues should be redistributed to farmers for sustainability and animal welfare . Remaining revenues can be used for consumers: (fiscal) subsidies on vegetables, fruits, plant-based meat and low-income group ‘compensation’ payments.
-
Phasing out EU subsidies promoting meat;
reducing subsidies for meat
& dairy
production.
Let’s empower our politicians with thousands of messages and inspire EU Minsters and the EU Parliamentarians to be the courageous leaders we need!
SEND A MESSAGE TO EU MINISTERS AND SIGN THE PETITION! Thanks!
This petition is run by the TAPP coalition, a group of farmers, doctors, youth, companies and charities.
MORE INFORMATION:
EU Commission proposes higher meat price in Farm to Fork Strategy and zero percent VAT tariff for vegetables and fruits: https://tappcoalition.eu/nieuws/14050/eu and https://tappcoalition.eu/nieuws
Guardian: EU parliament discussion about a sustainability charge on meat: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/feb/04/eu-meat-tax-climate-emergency
MEPs opinion about Farm to Fork Strategy not green enough – relation with meat https://www.brusselstimes.com/all-news/eu-affairs/115683/is-eus-farm-to-fork-strategy-green-enough/
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