In Europe the regionalisation process of the Milan Pact involves the main European cities’ associations: EUROCITIES.
Thanks to the MUFPP initiative, in 2016 the Eurocities Working Group Food has been established. It is a creative hub for knowledge sharing and codesign of innovative solutions related to urban food policies for European cities, manly among the MUFPP signatory cities. With this working group, European cities find an area where to cooperate and learn from each other with fellow European cities.
The main goals are:
Watch this video to know more about the Eurocities Working Group Food.
In 2016 a first group of cities gathered in Brussels to discuss the possibility to create a Working Group Food within Eurocities that could translate into a joint action of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact framework at European level. Cities joined to understand more about the feasibility of such idea and the effort required to keep this commitment alive in the future. A discussion was held around essential tools to set up the Working Group, such as two-year action plans, regular in person meetings, mailing list and online calls.
The WG food was created to ensure that local authorities are taken into considerations in the EU policy framework related to food, in addition to provide a further platform for cities to exchange best practice. The role of local authorities in food was becoming increasingly more evident in Brussels and cities were ready to carry out, with the support of Eurocities, strategic lobby actions towards the EU Commission and relevant institutions, organizing breakfast, presenting position papers and organizing dedicated events.
During the meeting, together with the establishment of the Eurocities Working Group Food, a set of crucial fields of action were defined: governance, waste, urban agriculture, circular economy, healthy diets and procurement.
