Opening speech by Mr Janusz Wojciechowski at the first meeting of the EU Agri-Food Chain Observatory.

EU Agri-Food Chain Observatory first meeting

Welcome to you all, and thank you for being here today.

It is my great pleasure to open this first meeting of the EU Agri-Food Chain Observatory.

I requested to open this meeting for two reasons:

• Firstly, because I believe in the importance of this observatory, and its potential to deliver significant results;
• And secondly, to support your work, and set the tone for the meetings ahead, I would like to outline some basic aspects of the observatory – its composition, its founding principles, and its objectives.

A diversity of actors from across the agri-food supply chain

To begin with the composition: we have in this room a diversity of actors from across the agri-food supply chain.

We have:

• input-providers and farmers,
• processors and manufacturers,
• transport and trade operators,
• distributors and wholesalers,
• retailers, food services and consumer representatives, as well as training and advisory services.

We have representatives from all Member States, with colleagues working in ministries, national market observatories, and equivalent structures.

We also have representatives of stakeholders' organisations and EU institutions, taking part as observers.

We launched the call for this group only a few months ago, and I would like to thank each one of you for answering this call.

The high level of participation in today's meeting reflects the strong interest in this process, and the major importance of its work.

Addressing a sense of discontent and mistrust

Turning now to the context in which this group was set up. In other words, “why are we here?”.

In the past months, farmers across Europe have raised a number of concerns about the challenges they face.

One of the main issues to emerge was a sense of discontent and mistrust in the functioning of the food supply chain, raised by farmers who feel that their work is not sufficiently rewarded.

At the same time, other actors, like processors and retailers, have felt unfairly targeted.

It is precisely this lack of trust and confidence that the Commission wishes to address.

Our farmers are often positioned as the weakest link in the food supply chain, with less bargaining power in the face of larger and more concentrated actors.

Their vulnerability became more acute during the past four years of successive crises.

But these crises have also taken their toll on other actors along the food supply chain.

The European Commission has considered this range of issues very closely.

On 15 March, we put forward a reflection paper on how to deliver swift and concrete actions to respond to the issues raised.

Alongside proposals to amend the Common Market Organisation, and to reinforce the Directive on Unfair Trading Practices, the creation of this new Observatory is one of the first deliverables of our reflection paper.

AFCO Objectives

This brings me to my final point, on our objectives.

With this new Observatory, we gather operators from across the supply chain around the same table, alongside the Commission and public authorities, to engage in an open, transparent, and trust-worthy manner.

The aims of this engagement are as follows:

• to exchange information and establish a common diagnosis on issues impacting the food supply-chain;
• to deliver increased transparency on costs and margins in the chain;
• and to provide expertise, identifying existing and emerging trading practices and contractual arrangements that may have positive or negative impacts on the functioning of the chain.

This work will contribute to future policy responses, of the Commission and other policymakers.

In the medium term, the aim of the Observatory will be to develop methodologies and indicators to assess and monitor the structure of costs, and the distribution of margins and value-added.

Ultimately, the Observatory will aim to build trust between all actors in the agri-food supply chain – with each other and with the public authorities – and ensure that every actor is fairly remunerated for their work, for the benefit of all economic operators, consumers, and the public at large.

Conclusion: fair and well-functioning supply-chains are a core strategic interest of the EU

I will soon leave the floor to my colleagues in DG AGRI, who will introduce this expert group in more detail.

They will:

• present its rules of procedure for adoption.
• outline the current data that is available on the agri-food supply chain,
• and they will elaborate on the six “workstreams”, around which we propose to organise the Observatory.
• Before I leave, I would like to leave you with a final message.

A fair and well-functioning food supply-chain is a core strategic interest of the European Union:

• it has been highlighted by our farmers and our citizens, in the recent protests and in the European elections;
• it has been identified as a priority for the main political groups in the next European Parliament;
• and it was highlighted by our leaders in the Strategic Agenda of the European Council for 2024-2029;

This means that expectations on the work of this group are high – and we count on your active participation to match these expectations, and to make them a reality.

This will obviously present a challenge. Each actor in the chain has their own needs and constraints. If there was an easy solution, we would all know it, and we would have fixed it by now.

But it is precisely because of this complexity that we need to come together.

In this forum, your expertise and experience will greatly help to enhance transparency and trust within the food supply chain, and ultimately, to strengthen the competitiveness, resilience and sustainability of our food system in the European Union.

I believe that this Observatory presents a remarkable opportunity. Your work is of paramount importance, and I will follow your achievements with great interest.

I wish you a very interesting discussion today, and many constructive meetings over the months and years ahead.

Thank you.