EU Green Deal’s food system agenda fails to deliver post-exceptionalist breakthrough

Abstract

The European Commission’s Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies were widely praised as important steps towards a healthier and more sustainable EU food system. Although this agenda was seen by some as a leap towards increased post-exceptionalism in EU agri-food policy-making, recent political backlash against the Green Deal’s food system ambitions has called into question whether such a post-exceptionalist breakthrough has indeed occurred. Here, we systematically analyse recent shifts in EU agri-food governance across four dimensions of (post-)exceptionalism: ideas, institutions, interests and policies. Despite a diversification of food system sustainability concerns in policy debates, along with some institutional opening and broader consultations with interest groups, we show that policy transformations were very limited—leaving space for emerging political tensions and increasing pressure for deeper post-exceptionalist reform in EU agri-food policies.