The European Commission has recently announced two new initiatives focused on the promotion of EU goods and products. The ‘Buy European Food’ campaign is part of the EU’s renewed agri-food promotion programme for 2026, including €35 million for the Commission’s own initiative.

Separately, the Commission has introduced a package of industrial decarbonisation proposals which include a ‘Made in EU’ condition for public procurement in strategic energy intensive sectors. This condition sets a precedent that could be extended to other strategic energy-intensive sectors. Both are part of a wider push by the EU to strengthen domestic production and reduce reliance on imports. For UK farmers, this is important because it could affect their ability to access markets and could see them face increased market competition.

What is the ‘Buy European food’ campaign?

In September 2025, European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen announced in her State of the Union address that the EU would “boost our promotion budget to launch a new ’Buy European food’ campaign. Because we can proudly say that our European food is the best in the world.”

The goal of the ‘Buy European Food’ campaign is to:

• to motivate EU consumers to choose European Food and increase consumption of EU food products
• to raise awareness and foster a sense of pride in the high quality of EU agri-food products among EU consumers
• to create a feeling of belonging and a bond between consumers and farmers

Applications for grants were opened in early 2026, and the full launch of the scheme, including the Commission’s own initiative, is not expected until the second half of 2026.

What is the budget for the campaign?

Last December it was announced that the European Commission would allocate €205 million to the ‘Buy European Food’ campaign in 2026. This is the largest budget ever allocated by the EU for the promotion of agri-food, with the budget 55.3% higher than the 2025 budget. €45 million of this promotion budget is allocated to procurement contracts for the EU Commission’s own initiatives, of which €35 million is allocated to their ‘European Food Campaign’.

€160 million of the budget is allocated to grants for simple and multi promotion programmes. Simple promotion programmes are carried out by one or more companies from one Member State, where as multi programmes are from two organisations from at least two Member States, or one or more European-level institutions. Overall, the €160 million will see €70.3 million for non-EU promotion and €79.7 million for internal EU promotion, with €10 million maintained as a crisis reserve.

The Commission has stated that the key non-EU markets are those with high growth potential and include, but are not limited to, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, China, Singapore and North America. The Commission envisages that ‘high level missions’ to third countries, EU participation in trade fairs, and information and promotion campaign will be integral to promotion in these markets.

What does this mean for UK farmers?

Funding from the promotional budget is only available to EU member states and EU organisations. Whilst we await further information on the details of the initiative, we can expect that the EU’s ‘Buy European Food Campaign’ will focus specifically on EU agri-food products, as opposed to a broader definition of European food. As a result of this additional promotion, farmers and producers from the UK could face increased market competition, both in Europe and internationally.

However, promotional campaigns and initiatives are not uncommon at a national and international level. In the UK, levy bodies such as AHDB, QMS and the LMC champion and promote British agri-food products domestically and internationally.

What is the ‘Made in Europe’ proposal?

At the start of March, the Commission published its long-awaited Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA). The legislative proposal forms part of the Clean Industrial Deal and seeks to “increase demand for low-carbon, European-made technologies and products”.  The proposal introduces a goal to increase manufacturing's share of EU GDP to 20% by 2035 and establishes conditions for major investments (more than €100 million) in strategic sectors.

A key part of the proposal is the introduction of a ‘Made in EU’ requirement for public procurement, which will apply across strategic sectors including steel, cement, aluminium, cars and net-zero technologies. A crucial point for UK farmers is that the act establishes a framework that can be extended, where appropriate, to other energy intensive sectors in the future.

What does this mean for UK farmers?

The proposal was expected to be published in February 2026 but has faced delays, with the definition of ‘Made in the EU’ a key sticking point in the development of this policy. There has been significant lobbying from non-EU countries, including the UK, on extending the definition to include ‘trusted partners’ from third countries.

In March’s proposal, the definition of “Union origin” extends to content originating from third countries who have a free trade area or a customs union with the EU. Therefore, we would expect that goods from the UK would be included in scope of Union origin, as laid out in the proposals. This should ensure that products from the UK are not excluded from public procurement contracts.

However, the proposal envisages that the Commission could propose to exclude countries by means of delegated acts where certain concerns arise, for example on the grounds of reciprocity and economic security. BAB will be closely tracking the progress of this legislation over the coming months.