While Europeans have many reasons to celebrate their culinary traditions, the EU food system gives less reason to rejoice. It is a synonym for environmental degradation, poor human health and animal suffering on a massive scale. Radical change is needed to meet the EU’s sustainability objectives, in particular the transition towards an economy with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, as set out in the European Climate Law. The Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F), the EU’s main effort to bring about such changes, is in limbo, as opposition is mounting against green policies across the continent. Meaningful legislative action seems a distant prospect.

An outdated vision of food

Many political and legal factors lie behind this sluggish progress. One of them has not received the attention it deserves: the role of the EU’s internal market, its fundamental objectives, concepts and tools. To put it simply, the core problem is that the internal market treats food as a mere commodity, subjecting it to market forces, while ignoring the various other functions it fulfils. EU food law is based on the premise that consumers should have access to any food they like, regardless of its composition and how it is produced, provided that it is safe for human consumption. This derives directly from the internal market nature of EU food law – legislation that is aimed at removing barriers to trade and maximising consumer choice, but is ill-fitted to the post-growth concepts of circularity and deconsumption. Taking sustainability seriously requires us to challenge some core assumptions on which the internal market is founded.

Local focus

Moreover, the transition to a sustainable food system also requires changing the scale, away from the traditional demands of the EU for greater uniformity. Too often, internal market law stifles policy innovation and experimentation done at the national level. Its openness towards regulatory diversity is mostly limited to risks that can be objectively and scientifically established. That is a problem. Current opposition to the green transition is leading to greater politicisation of EU affairs and a growing demand for more consideration being given to local values, knowledge and lifestyles.

This is especially true when it comes to food, which resonates strongly with our individual and collective selves. Food is used in the EU as a medium of cultural politics that demarcate local boundaries and identities. Internal market law lacks the reflexivity needed to make space for this understanding of food and other forms of consumption. It struggles to make space for the lay perspectives of consumers and other actors on the ground. Faced with the complexity of the task ahead, and the risk of political deadlock, we need to bring back the local focus.

Sustainable food as a case study to reinvent the internal market

Should we throw the internal market baby out with the bathwater of its poor environmental and social performance? We believe not, for its potential can be harnessed to drive rather than limit the sustainable transition. But this requires some creative thinking, to reimagine some of the core concepts of internal market law – justification grounds and margin of discretion, proportionality, harmonisation, etc. – in a way that is more open to regulatory diversity and non-market goals and values. We envision food as a case study, allowing us to draw broader constitutional lessons. There is scope in EU lawmaking, beyond food and the internal market, for a better acknowledgement of various worldviews, knowledge and livelihoods.

A new research agenda

The issues outlined in this blog are complex, and require a multidisciplinary approach. Food policy reforms should not only aim to provide healthier diets for EU citizens, but also consider their environmental and socio-economic implications. Our research project ‘Squaring the circle? Reimagining the internal market (for food) in light of the EU’s sustainability challenges’ aims to deepen our knowledge of policy reforms that align with these goals. We know quite a lot about what needs to be done at the EU-level. Our project will focus on local social innovations in the Netherlands and beyond: short food supply chains, community-supported agriculture, civic food networks, etc.

To what extent does EU internal market law curtail action at the local, national and European levels in the field of food sustainability, and how is it received and experienced by citizens and local groups? The ‘just transition’ to sustainable futures, one that does not leave those most fragile behind, will provide a good springboard to discuss the role and place of individuals, communities and marginalised groups in driving systemic changes.

The project aims to identify and propose concrete changes to make the internal market an auxiliary of the sustainable (food) transition. These include new political priorities, judicial approaches and constitutional reform. With these proposals, the current EU food system, the internal market and the EU itself, could undergo a positive transformation.

This blog highlights the new research project of Vincent Delhomme and Darinka Piqani, supported by a Starter Grant from Leiden Law School