Freshfel Europe is reaching out to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen following her announcement of a “boosted” agri-food promotion budget and the launch of a new “Buy European Food” campaign, unveiled yesterday during the European Parliament Plenary session.
The European promotion policy is an important financial instrument within the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with a budget of more than 180 Mio €. Fruit and vegetables sector is one of the main beneficiary of this policy. Within this budget, the multi promotion budget initially set at 84.4 Mio €, out of which 9 Mio € allocated to fruit and vegetable promotion is under pressure.
In 2025, the entire ”multi” budget was suspended due to a reallocation of funds to address the consequences of the war in Ukraine. At the last minutes, only 40 million € was finally made available— representing a 53% cut from the original budget allocation for multi progtamme. This created planning challenges for multi programme that require collaborative efforts between partners. Looking ahead, the situation remains highly uncertain. The 2026 annual budget is currently still set at zero, with uncertain option of last-minute partial re-allocations. This creates deep instability and uncertainty for the sector.
Philippe Binard, General Delegate of Freshfel Europe commented: “When the Commission President promises a “boosted budget,” will it effectively increase the total promotion envelop of 180 Mio €? Will it only restore part of the multi budget previously cut by the Commission or will it indeed be a real boost of the 84.4 Mio € historically available? When committing to boostbudget, words matter on what it really mean for business.
Predictable and reliable promotion funding are essential for the European fruit and vegetable sector to plan and invest effectively in the promotion of fresh produce”. The EU promotion budget is for years an essential instrument of the CAP for generic and usually unbranded like fresh produce operating with tight margin. A well-funded promotion budget is a must for the fruit and vegetable sector.
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The announcement of the rebranding of the campaign motto and logo is also raising legitimate concerns from Freshfel Europe. The substitutionof the well-established “Enjoy it’s from Europe” slogan with “Buy European Food” is rather controversial. This announcement is coming from the European Commission without any stakeholder’s consultation with those using the logo as part of their EU funded campaign or any kind of credible impact assessment. This working process by the Commission breaching good governance principles and confidence in policy making.
Philippe Binard stated: The current slogan has been in place for over a decade.It is widely recognized as a trusted signaturedoe EU funded promotion programme”. He added “The “Enjoy its from Europe” logo is an open logo that effectively fits both agriculture and agri-food products. Narrowing the focus to “food” completely undermines the role of agriculture.
Agricultural produst are downgraded to a secondary position,while it should remain at the heart of EU promotion efforts by EU CAP budget. There is no food without agriculture”. Redirecting the already limited funds of the policy towards already well-branded food industries with high margin is not a sound strategic move by the EU. It leaves basic, natural, unprocessed, healthy and sustainable products like fresh fruit and vegetables with lower margins underfunded for their marketing activities.
The “Buy European Food” concept might raise other issue on the integrity of the message and its beneficiaries. Every piece of fresh fruit and vegetable carries an unambiguous identity – its origin through the compulsory EU labeliing requirement. This debate of “buying European food” is an opportunity for Freshfel Europe to remind that the promotion policy should only be accessible to food 100% composed of EU ingredients. In such a way it will altogether benefit EU farmers and growers. Many (ultra) processed foods contain high level of ingredients that are not originating from the European Union that might in an ultraprocessed fashion indirectly benefit from EU funding.
Freshfel Europe is calling the European Commission to provide transparency on the actual budget increase, with clear figures and projection. A robust budget for fruit and vegetables would be coherent with the European Commission ambition to shift towards healthier and most sustainable diet. Freshfel Europe also calls the Commission for the long term efficiency of its policy by maintaining continuity of its well -established brands “ Enjoy its from Europe”
