Statement for the informal Agri-fisheries Council on Research and Innovation and Bioeconomy

The European Bioeconomy Alliance (EUBA), representing sectors active all along the bioeconomy value chain, welcomes the priority given by the Romanian Presidency on research and innovation in the field of bioeconomy.  In 2015, the European bioeconomy already employed 18 million people and generated EUR 2.3 trillion of turnover and EUR 621 billion of value added.

We strongly believe that the discussion in the Informal Council should not only encourage Member States to come up with concrete measures and indicators in the future CAP Strategic Plans for the agriculture and forestry sector but also to promote more coherence and synergies between all relevant policies for the bioeconomy to provide support for a successful implementation of the updated EU Bioeconomy Strategy. This should cover the 2050 Climate and Energy Strategy- A Clean Planet for all, Circular Economy Package, Sustainable Finance Package, future EU Forest Strategy, Biodiversity Strategy, Horizon Europe, EUInvest and Regional development funds and other relevant policies and instruments.

The European bioeconomy have to rely on secured, local and sustainable feedstock supply. Therefore, we call for a sufficient budget for the future CAP that needs to be secured to support farmers, forest owners and their cooperatives eager to invest in the development of the bioeconomy. Concrete measures and long‐term support to increase the availability of sustainably produced biomass fostering investment and market development should be proposed. EU regional funds need to contribute more to investments in infrastructure and broadband in rural areas to create better connected value chains.

We need European Bioeconomy champions to lead the way toward a faster transition of our economies. This is why  it is crucial in order to develop a competitive bioeconomy to support funding for innovation and business scale up. Furthermore, research into bioeconomy‐relevant topics and demonstration actions should also be supported via Horizon Europe in order to build a solid basis projects and strengthen the competitiveness of existing production capacities. The promotion of public private partnerships that bring together the entire value chain starting with farmers and forest owners and mobilise the relevant stakeholders, ranging from SMEs to large companies should be further encouraged.

We consider important also to promote and stimulate in policies at EU and national level the uptake of bio-based products in strategic sectors (e.g. packaging, automotive, coatings, construction, cosmetics, energy, fertilizer, homecare, pharmaceutical and textiles industries) that will create a long‐term