The European Central Bank's "historic" interest rate cut and the European Union's food challenges - both in agricultural production and food waste - are this week's top topics.
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00:00Welcome to the State of the Union from Brussels.
00:08The most recent inflationary crisis began in 2022 following Russia's large-scale invasion
00:15of Ukraine.
00:17The harmonized consumer price index rose to a peak of 10.6% in October 2022 in the European
00:25Union.
00:26In response, the European Central Bank began raising interest rates.
00:30Two years late, inflation in the eurozone is down to 2.6%, close to the 2% considered
00:37the ideal rate.
00:39Finally, the ECB made an announcement this week that should bring relief to European
00:45families and companies, which have been under pressure due to the high value of their bank
00:51payments.
00:52The cut in interest rates by 25 basis points was explained by the President as a prudent
00:59decision given the risks that still exist.
01:03We are determined to ensure that inflation returns to our 2% medium-term target in a
01:09timely manner.
01:12We will keep policy rates sufficiently restrictive for as long as necessary to achieve this aim.
01:19We will continue to follow a data-dependent and meeting-by-meeting approach to determining
01:25the appropriate level and duration of restriction.
01:28Farmer warriors is what participants called themselves in a demonstration this week in
01:34Brussels.
01:35They are dissatisfied with the recent amendments made to the Common Agriculture Policy to respond
01:42to the wave of protests that has been going on for half a year.
01:46The protest was called by farming organizations close to the far right, with the speakers
01:52belonging to such parties from Poland, Belgium and the Netherlands, for example.
01:57Copacorjeca, the main European farmers' federation, did not participate.
02:03One of the organizers refused this association.
02:06It's a lie that we have heard now over and over again.
02:09We, Farmers Defence Force, an interest organization that has only members as farmers, have organized
02:17this protest.
02:18So everything you see here, the whole financial business has been organized by us and the
02:23seven other organizations.
02:25There is no politics in this protest and there is nothing extreme but the people who lie.
02:31It is essential to produce quality food at a fair price, but also to avoid food waste,
02:37which amounts to 20% of what is purchased by consumers.
02:42Food waste has a significant environmental impact in terms of land and water use, but
02:48also in terms of polluting gas emissions that affect the climate.
02:53To discuss solutions, the European Commission organized the European Forum on Consumer Food
02:57Waste this week, with researchers and other professionals.
03:00I had the opportunity to interview one of the experts, Christophe Dickerson, Director
03:06of Public Relations at Too Good To Go.
03:09It's a social impact company that connects users with partner stores to rescue unsold
03:15food and prevent it from going to waste in Europe and North America.
03:21Christophe Dickerson, thank you very much for being in the State of the Union.
03:25I would start by asking, we have around 20% of food waste in the European Union.
03:31What are the main reasons leading to that?
03:34Thank you very much for having me, Isabel.
03:36There are diverse reasons for why the food waste numbers are so high.
03:41It can be associated to either mismatch between supply and demand, but at household level
03:49itself, an awareness of the meaning of expiry dates, for example, and the fact that some
03:56products that carry a best before and not a use by date can actually be very safely
04:01consumed after the date is one of those reasons.
04:05So let's talk about, you know, the tools and solutions to respond to this problem.
04:10What are the good examples that you can already mention and ideas that are being put out there?
04:17So the European Commission actually has put a proposal on the table to introduce legally
04:22binding food waste reduction targets in the EU.
04:26It's currently under negotiation in the EU institutions.
04:29At consumer level, it's more about educational campaigns, really finding a new respect for
04:35food and also using a bit common sense with certain practices.
04:39So learning how to cook with surplus ingredients, for example, having a leftover day, for example.
04:50So we know that 30 million people in Europe are not able to have access in a steady way
04:55to a meal.
04:57Your organization has a different system using a mobile phone app.
05:03Can you explain us how does that work in terms of redirecting the food?
05:08When you see some of the best practices that are existing in countries today, you mentioned
05:13mobile apps, for example, mobile apps like ours provide a tool to make food more accessible
05:21because the stores that work with Too Good To Go will offer the food at a discounted
05:26price to ensure that it still goes to people rather than to waste.
05:31And so in addition to the beneficial impact on the environment, we also try to make the
05:37food more accessible for everybody because in the end, it is good quality food that should
05:43not be wasted.
05:44If we would consume instead of wasting a quarter of all the food that is wasted, we would
05:51have already enough food in plenty to feed everybody sufficiently, which is a shocking
05:57statistic.
05:58Christoph Dirksen, thank you very much for your contributions to the program.
06:02The pleasure was mine.
06:03Thank you very much, Isabel.
06:04There is a lot of talk about the Franco-German axis as the driving force of the European
06:10Union.
06:11These two countries are also important football powers with EuroCup 2024 starting next week.
06:20With Germany being the host country, Chancellor Olaf Scholz could not miss visiting the national
06:25team at the Allianz Arena.
06:28But French President Emmanuel Macron also visited the Blues team training in Clairefontaine.
06:35Remember that France hosted the EuroCup in 2016, but in 2020 there was no tournament
06:42during the COVID-19 pandemic.
06:44The teams would end up facing each other in 2021 with games in different countries.
06:50Italy, another heavyweight in European football and politics, was the winner.
06:57This concludes our edition.
06:58Thanks for watching.