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EU Leaders Urged to Prioritize Environmental and Social Justice in New Strategic Agenda

As European and member state leaders prepare to gather and set the EU's strategic agenda for the next five years, a coalition of over 110 civil society organisations calls for a profound shift in priorities. This assembly, set to address critical issues ranging from climate change to economic inequality, faces mounting pressure to reject industry-driven agendas favouring deregulation and corporate profits over public and environmental health. The coalition's open letter demands a strategic focus on sustainable development, equitable wealth distribution, and stringent biodiversity and public health protections.


In stark contrast to these urgent calls for action, earlier this year, major polluting corporations led by the chemicals lobby group CEFIC unveiled the' Antwerp Declaration'. This declaration, launched discreetly with high-level support, championed business-friendly EU decision-making and pushed for deregulation under the guise of innovation and competitiveness. The civil society coalition's letter vehemently denounces this corporate agenda, highlighting its potential to significantly undermine essential environmental and social regulations. Instead, they advocate for an EU strategic agenda that genuinely serves the interests of people and the planet, emphasizing the crucial need for robust policies that support ecological sustainability and social justice.



The coalition letter reads as follows:




25 June 2024


Dear EU and member state leaders, ministers, and parliamentarians,


Time to prioritise needs of people and the environment


As member state and European leaders gather to decide on the strategic agenda of the EU

for the coming five years, we need real political solutions to the multiple crises we are facing.

That is why we are writing to urge you to abandon the ‘Industrial Deal’ agenda promoted by

business associations which would be disastrous for people and the environment.

Big polluting corporations led by the chemicals lobby group CEFIC have launched a plan for

an EU ‘Industrial Deal’ also called the ‘Antwerp Declaration’, and further initiatives by

BusinessEurope and the European Round Table for Industry echo this approach. They don’t

propose any reduction in energy consumption or toxic pollution; instead what these

corporate interests demand includes:


● Getting access to more public money to boost their interests despite the needs of

people and planet. This includes massive public funds at EU and national level to derisk

investments in infrastructure and ‘net-zero’ technologies. These include carbon

capture and hydrogen which will lock-in further disastrous fossil fuel use and which,

alongside more nuclear power, will effectively enable business-as-usual for Europe’s

biggest polluters.


● Far-reaching and speedy deregulation under the guise of ‘competitiveness’ and

‘innovation’ including the rolling back of existing social and green rules, and

undermining the development and implementation of effective regulations in the

future. Boosting the ‘better regulation’ agenda will exacerbate the existing

prioritisation of competitiveness and economic factors in law-making.


● ‘Completing’ the single market with stronger enforcement to enable corporations

and the European Commission to block much needed bold plans for a social and

green transition at the national and municipal levels. Remarkably, initiatives which

promote a socially just ecological transition, public services, or collective labour law

are not exempt from legal challenges under single market rules.


● More ‘free trade’ and other measures, including what EU strategists call ‘hard

power’, to secure ever more raw materials and energy supplies. This will see big

corporations extracting resources from global south countries which will have to deal

with the social and environmental destruction and the lost opportunity to use the

resources for their own development.


● A more business-friendly way of making EU decisions through the use of forums

and dialogues with industry-biased membership and no public accountability

mechanisms.


We urge EU and member state leaders to reject these unsustainable industry projects, put

forward by those with the deepest pockets and the smoothest public relations machines.

Afterall the industry promotion of this agenda comes after the same lobbies successfully

sabotaged a range of important legislative proposals that were desperately needed to

protect nature, biodiversity, and public health, including the Chemicals Strategy for

Sustainability and the Farm to Fork ambitions.


And this corporate lobby campaign comes at a time when we are facing multiple crises that

hit communities and the very environment we live in and depend on. We face an ecological

crisis of unknown proportions, from climate disaster to species extinction, which is already

impacting Europeans’ daily lives, threatening our energy and food security, ecosystems,

infrastructure, water resources, financial stability, and health.


Meanwhile the cost of living crisis has seen basic living costs like food, housing, and utilities

increase massively in comparison to wages for millions of Europeans, driven by corporate

profiteering, particularly by the fossil fuel and military industries, exacerbating poverty and

inequality across the continent. To add insult to injury, ‘economic governance’ policies

including austerity are being restarted, harming social standards and the climate transition,

and undermining public services in member states. Not properly addressing issues of

poverty, inequality, and poor public services are important (but preventable) drivers of the

growth of extreme-right groups in various member states.


The EU and member states should have an agenda based on prioritising the needs of

people and the environment. This should include:


● Redistributing wealth to secure well-being: investing in public services, creating a

meaningful Just Transition for all workers, especially those in polluting industries, and

abandoning austerity policies. People at the impoverished end of the economy

should not have to pay for the urgently required ecological transition.


● Reshaping the EU and member state economies towards systemic change

including decent work, fairness, safe products that do not contain hazardous

substances, and real sustainability. The so-called ‘Industrial Deal’ agenda should be

dropped. Instead an EU industrial strategy must be public interest-based in order to

deliver a really fair and sustainable transition that works for local communities.


● Adopting strong laws to protect people and the planet, to achieve the phaseout

of fossil fuels, real zero greenhouse gas emissions, and zero pollution. The proper

application of the polluter pays (and repairs) and precautionary principles will help to

ensure accountability for the environmental crises and a stronger approach to public

interest law-making.


● Learning from the approach adopted towards the tobacco industry, we need new

rules to protect decision-making from corporate interference. A recent WHO

report on health-harming products in the EU illustrated how “a small number of

transnational corporations … wield significant power over the political and legal

contexts in which they operate, and obstruct public interest regulations which could

impact their profit margins.” It is vital that industry is no longer able to weaken and

defeat legislation which aims to protect people and the planet.

We urge you to put this agenda at the centre of the EU programme for 2024-29 and beyond.

We would be pleased to have the opportunity to discuss these issues with you in person.


Yours faithfully,


Academia Cidad.

Afrikagrupperna (Sweden)

AICED (Appui aux Initiatives Communaire de Conservation de l'Environnement et de

Developpement Durable (RDCongo))

AlgorithmWatch

Amigas de la Tierra - Friends of the Earth Spain

Anders Handeln (Austria)

Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment (AWHHE)

Arnika

Association For Promotion Sustainable Development

Attac Austria

ATTAC Spain

BankTrack

BeeLife European Beekeeping Coordination

Biofuelwatch, Europe/USA

Broederlijk Delen

Căși sociale ACUM!/Social housing NOW!

Center for International Environmental Law

Child Rights International Network (CRIN)

Climate Action Campaign at the Humboldt UU Fellowship

Climaxi

CNE CSC Belgian trade union in health social and services

Comite Schone Lucht | Clean Air Committee NL

Coordination gegen BAYER-Gefahren

Corporate Europe Observatory

DEMETER BE

Demeterforbundet Danmark

Deutsche Umwelthilfe

Di.logo 2000-Jubileo Sur Argentina

Earth Trek (Croatia)

Eco Hvar, Croatia

Ecologistas en Acci.n (Spain)

EDEN center Albania

Ekō

EnvMed - European Network for Environmental Medicine

Estonian Green Movement

Fair Resource Foundation

Fairwatch (Italy)

Fern

Food & Water Action Europe

foodwatch

Foreningen for Biodynamisk Jordbrug

Fridays for Future Romania

Frie B.nder – Levende Land

Friends of the Earth Europe

Friends of the Earth Finland / Maan yst.v.t ry

Fr.samlerne Danmark

Fundacja Strefa Zieleni, Poland

GAIA - Grupo de Ac..o e Interven..o Ambiental

Gallifrey Foundation, Switzerland

G.n.rations Futures

GLOBAL 2000 - Friends of the Earth Austria

Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power, and Stop

Impunity

Global Witness

Grandmothers Act to Save the Planet (GASP)

Green Impact

Gr.n Hverdag, Denmark

Hamraah Foundation

Health and Environment Justice Support (HEJSupport)

Herenboeren Nederland

Hogar sin T.xicos (Spain)

Innovation pour le D.veloppement et Protection de l'Environnement

Institute for Sustainable Development Foundation (Poland)

International Office, Clean Clothes Campaign

ISDE, International Society of Doctors for Environment (Italy)

La Grande Puissance de Dieu

Landsforeningen Praktisk .kologi - Danish Association for Practical Ecology

Leefmilieu

Les Amis de la Terre France (FoE France)

Les Amis de la Terre-Belgique asbl

LobbyControl

Momentum Institute - The Think Tank for the Many (Austria)

Muchi Children's Home

Nature et Progr.s Belgique

Naturefriends Greece

NOAH - Friends of the Earth Denmark

Observatoire du principe pollueur-payeur

Ocean. Now!

OGM dangers

Organic Aquaculture - Denmark

P..stame Eesti Metsad (Save Estonia's Forests)

Parents For Future Global

Permakultur Danmark, Denmark

Pesticide Action Network Europe

Pesticide Action Network Germany

Plastic Change

Plastic Soup Foundation

Plataforma Transgenicos Fora

POLLINIS

Polska Zielona Sieć

PowerShift

Pro Natura - Friends of the Earth Switzerland

Protect The Forest Sweden

ReCommon

Red de Acci.n sobre Plaguicidas y Alternativas en M.xico (RAPAM) A.C.

SAFE Food Advocacy Europe

Sahita Institute, Indonesia

Schola Campesina Aps

Secrets Toxiques

Solidagro (Belgium)

SOMO - Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations

Stichting Zaadgoed

Stowarzyszenie Ekologiczne EKO-UNIA, Poland

S.DWIND Institut (Germany)

The Lifescape Project

The Scarab Trust

Think Tank (Belgium)

Transnational Institute

TROCA - Plataforma por um Com.rcio Internacional Justo

UK Hazards Campaign

urgewald

Vitale Rassen (Belgium)

WomanHealth Philippines

Women Engage for a Common Future - WECF International

Xnet, Institute for Democratic Digitalisation (Spain)

Young Friends of the Treaty (YouFT)

Zelena akcija / FoE Croatia

ZERO - Association for the Sustainability of the Earth System

Zukunftskonvent Germany

Vicky Cann, Corporate Europe Observatory, 26 Rue d’Edimbourg, 1050 Brussels, Belgium:

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