On July 8, 2025, the European Commission officially registered our European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) entitled “Food is a Human Right for All!”
It is more than a symbolic achievement.
It is the formal opening of a new political front in Europe.
It is a breach in the bureaucratic fortress that for too long has turned rights into privileges and survival into a private matter.
This registration crowns a long, collective effort and marks the beginning of a mobilisation to confront hunger, precarity, and the commodification of life in the heart of the European project. It is a call to action, not a polite request. It is a manifesto in motion.
A European Citizens’ Initiative is one of the only direct democratic tools available to EU citizens. With one million validated signatures from at least seven EU countries, it allows the people of Europe to force the European Commission to formally consider new legislation.
Our ECI, “Food is a Human Right for All!”, demands exactly what its title declares:
That the EU recognize, protect, and fulfil the right to food—not through vague declarations, but through binding measures.
We call on the EU to:
This is not another campaign asking for scraps from the table.
This is a structural political demand, rooted in international law and driven by the daily reality of people forced to choose between food and rent.
This initiative was not born in a Brussels boardroom or a policy incubator—it was born in the kitchens, assemblies, and struggles of those who feed and those who fight.
The First Democratic Forum on the Right to Food, organized by Fondazione Mater in May 2023 in Geneva, was the spark.
It brought together for the first time a constellation of activists, legal scholars, food producers, migrant workers, municipal representatives, and artists who shared one conviction: food must be treated as a right, not a favour.
From this came the Geneva Right to Food Manifesto—a rebellious and constructive document that laid out the principles for a democratic and dignified food system.
It also birthed a political method: participatory democracy as the engine of food justice. A method we now call demopraxia—where citizenship means co-decision, not consultation.
In May 2024, a year later, we returned to Geneva for the Second Democratic Forum. With a broader European coalition, we moved from analysis to action.
The Manifesto was refined, endorsed, and adopted as a strategic tool.
And there, in the midst of plenary debates, working groups, and public assemblies, we drafted and decided to launch the European Citizens’ Initiative that is now officially registered.
Following the Second Forum, we established Good Food for All - EU (GFFA-EU), a Brussels-based NGO tasked with overseeing the ECI campaign. While Fondazione Mater continues to act as the political and strategic incubator, GFFA-EU now holds the operational reins.
A formal Citizens’ Committee, made up of members from seven EU countries and representing grassroots organizations, was established to meet the EU’s legal requirements.
But this is not a bureaucratic exercise—it is a pan-European movement in formation.
An ecosystem of partners—farmers’ organizations, urban food movements, legal networks, migrant coalitions, food aid workers, educators, artists—is being assembled to turn this initiative into a continent-wide mobilisation.
We are building a campaign that speaks all languages, occupies all spaces, and activates all tools of democratic resistance.
But this is not just about reaching a number.
This is about repoliticising food. About unmasking the contradictions of a system where food waste coexists with food insecurity, where land grabs replace land reform, and where the poor are expected to be grateful for leftovers.
We are often told that food banks and soup kitchens are the answer.
But as those of us at Mater know well: food aid without rights is dependency.
We need structural change, not charity.
That is why this ECI insists on:
This initiative is not a technocratic reform. It is a counter-hegemonic project. A refusal to accept hunger as an unfortunate consequence of the market. It is the first legislative demand in the EU that connects food systems with the full apparatus of human rights law, agroecological transition, and democratic participation.
This is your campaign too. Starting now, we invite:
And of course: when the time comes, we ask every EU citizen to sign the ECI and become an active subject in this collective act of democratic resistance.
This is not a symbolic action. It is a declaration of conflict with a system that normalises hunger and precarity.
Let no one say it can’t be done.
Let no one say that food must remain a private responsibility.
Let no one say Europe cannot change.
This is how change begins.
We are proud that Mater Foundation helped ignite this flame, and we remain fully engaged in pushing this campaign forward—with our hands in the soil, in the kitchens, and in the institutions.
Let’s make it clear:
Food is not a privilege. It is not a commodity. It is a right. And rights are not given. They are taken back.
Join us.
Learn more, support the campaign, and get involved:
👉 www.goodfoodforall.eu
📩 Contact: info@goodfoodforall.eu