A crisis within a crisis: the European Green Deal back on track after Covid-19?

The European Green Deal was launched in December 2019 as “a new growth strategy” which the EU should follow if it wants to tackle climate and environmental-related challenges – “this generation’s defining task”. Not very long after that the European continent went into an unprecedented confinement due to the Covid -19 pandemic. The resulting economic crisis is forcing the Union to re-think its ambitious objectives and to streamline them with a new recovery plan for the European economy which is expected to be launched on 27 May. What does the current health crisis mean for the future of the European Green Deal? How will it influence European climate change policies? What lessons can we draw from it on how to deal with climate change? What should we expect from the recovery package of the EU in terms of sustainability? Will investment be coupled with socio-ecological objectives? And finally, but very importantly, what structural changes need to be made to the current food system which has been greatly challenged by the pandemic to avoid that this happens again in the future? Does the “Farm to fork” strategy which is at the heart of the European Green Deal contain all the necessary elements to make our food system more sustainable?

These are then many questions which this ETUI webinar will try to respond with interventions by Bela Galgoczi, Linda Kalcher, Olivier De Schutter and Félix Mailleux.

Speakers: Bela Galgoczi, Senior Researcher ETUI, Linda Kalcher, Director EU Institutional Relations at the European Climate Foundation and Olivier De Schutter, Co-chair, International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food)

Comments: Félix Mailleux, ETUC Advisor

Host: Mariya Nikolova, Communication Officer, ETUI

Register in advance for this webinar here. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

The ETUI is financially supported by the European Union. ETUI, aisbl 2020