The City of Milan is convening an EU roundtable with key stakeholders to explore the future of the EU School Scheme. The discussion will focus on shifting from a market-support instrument to a child-centred, city-driven and sustainability-focused policy. Building on some best practices from European cities, the roundtable will identify policy levers to empower municipalities, mainstream sustainability, and strengthen educational components.
A small group of European cities together with Eurocities and Slow Food, partners of the EU Cleverfood Horizon Europe Project, will address governance gaps, administrative simplification, and ways to rebalance the scheme’s priorities towards fruit and vegetables.
The objective is to articulate a joint vision and recommendations for the upcoming EU reform process, positioning cities as central actors in delivering healthier, fairer, and climate-smart food environments for children.
Agenda
The roundtable opens with a short welcome from the City of Milan, setting the tone for a conversation that bridges European policy and local innovation. The introduction frames the urgency of rethinking the EU School Scheme not merely as an agricultural measure, but as a cornerstone of child health and sustainable food systems.
A brief presentation follows, outlining the current challenges of the Scheme, from administrative complexity to the lack of municipal involvement, and recalling the findings of the 2023 consultation. This framing gives participants a shared understanding of why reform is needed now.
The session then moves into the heart of the dialogue with city-led best practices. The roundtable discussion provides space for a collective deep dive into the reform priorities: giving cities a formal role in governance, rebalancing the Scheme around fruit and vegetables, embedding sustainability criteria, and simplifying the administrative burden. It’s a dynamic exchange where different levels of government and stakeholders test ideas and align visions.
As the conversation matures, the group transitions to joint vision and recommendations, an interactive drafting moment where participants co-create a concise set of proposals for the upcoming EU reform process. This collaborative exercise captures the shared ambition: to move beyond milk, and towards a truly child-centred, city-driven, and sustainability-focused EU School Scheme.
Finally, the wrap-up summarizes the key takeaways and outlines next steps for advocacy and follow-up, ensuring that the collective energy generated in the MUFPP Global Forum can translate into concrete influence in Brussels and beyond.
Register Now!