EU presents new promotion policy for agricultural, food products

The European Commission today presented a draft reform of the information and promotion policy for European agricultural and food products. This new promotion policy, which benefits from a more substantial budget and will in the future be supported by a European executive agency, is intended to act as key for opening up new markets.

With the slogan `Enjoy, it´s from Europe`, the policy aims to help the sector`s professionals break into international markets and make consumers more aware of the efforts made by European farmers to provide quality products, based on a genuine strategy established at European level.

“The European agricultural and agri-food sector is well known for the unrivalled quality of its products and its compliance with standards that are unmatched anywhere else in the world”, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development said.

He added that “with over EUR 110 billion worth of exports already, this is a formidable asset for boosting growth and employment within the European Union”.

The main elements of the reform include a significant increase in the aid allocated to information and promotion initiatives, from €61 million in 2013 to €200 million in 2020, the establishment of a European promotion strategy and increasing the number of programmes aimed at third countries as well as multi-country programmes.

A number of measures which aim in overcoming consumers’ lack of awareness are also proposed.