Choosing the Right Path at this Turning Point in History

1) Call for Immediate Peace and Stand in Solidarity

• With Ukrainians – for their right to territorial integrity and self-determination, cutting off EU’s financial streams to the Russian regime; for the millions of refugees, through residence status in the EU and funding; for the eventual reconstruction of the country; and underlining that the EU is Ukraine’s partner and can be its home;
• With all people fleeing to Europe - defending the universal human rights of all people, including the right to seek refuge and asylum; ending the unbearable unjust treatment of refugees of other crises and conflicts who arrive in Europe; calling on the EU and the EU governments to agree on a new European policy for legal immigration;
• With countries taking in refugees – enabling the use of the EU’s Cohesion and other funds to facilitate acts of solidarity; allowing all municipalities the opportunity and financial support to offer admission quotas in order to participate in migration politics and act as safe harbours;
• With civil society and trade unions in Ukraine, across the EU and EU candidate countries, and with civil society organisations and trade unions in Russia and Belarus, that are being shut down – supporting the role and capacity of civil society and a free press will strengthen democracy and resilience to authoritarian regimes and increase social cohesion in the face of totalitarian
• propaganda;
• With countries in the Global South who are facing rising food and energy prices, by supporting an internationally coordinated response within the structures of the Committee on World Food Security to address the hunger crisis that has been on the rise since 2014; collaborate to support social security systems and support small-scale farmers in the Global South in sustainable food production, rather than subsidise more EU food exports at the cost of long-term sustainability, biodiversity, water and soil protection in the EU; and to implement immediate measure to stabilise global food prices and secure the right to food for all people.

2) End all Russian fossil fuel imports and commit to accelerating the path to full independence from fossil fuels

• Immediately reduce and swiftly eliminate Russian fossil fuel use: from restrictions and sanctions on fossil fuel imports to major efforts at reducing energy demand across the EU both for private households, the public sector and industry. Concerted efforts to cut energy are strong signals of political will, solidarity and enable political courage to fully turn off the tap to Russian oil and gas;
• Resist replacing Russian fossil fuels with a new dependency on other autocratic regimes or highly polluting practices. We cannot afford to lock ourselves into further fossil-fuel dependency with ensuing political dependency, at the same time fuelling the climate crisis that is proving a global catastrophe, or compromising health and the environment through an expansion of fracking and new pipelines, which create more lock-ins;
• Make an immediate commitment to 100% sustainable renewable energy sources at the latest by 2040 and invest in developing maps of suitable and unsuitable areas to protect biodiversity and communities across Europe;
• Advance deeply transformative policies and investments towards energy savings, energy and resource efficiency, circular economy and sufficiency measures. This will expedite the transition away from Russian fossil fuel and material dependency, be a more efficient solution for matching supply and demand, enable 100% renewables and reduce the risks of price hikes of energy sources and natural resources;
• Ensure that the EU and national funding and wider incentives promote independence from fossil fuels and remove all subsidies and incentives that drive dependency and lock-in;
• Negotiate a strong Fit-for-55 climate package. Anything beyond a 55% reduction is an additional contribution to reducing fossil fuel dependency and a step closer to what we need to avoid the climate emergency with its cataclysmic consequences;
• Exit the outdated Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) and withdraw the inclusion of gas and nuclear in the taxonomy. The ECT keeps us locked in a fossil fuel future and limits governments’ agency to reduce fossil fuel dependency. And the Ukraine crisis has underlined how counterproductive dependency on natural gas is, and the risks posed by nuclear power in military conflicts.

4) Resist false and short-term solutions

• Recognise the vulnerabilities of the current system highlighted by the war to speed up transformation to a nature-positive food system: Nature’s ecosystems are our life support systems. Ecosystem health is essential for our resilience to climate change, for food and water security and to provide the air we breathe.
• Resist the calls from vested interests to suspend green initiatives and adopt the Nature Restoration Law and the revised Sustainable Use of Pesticides Regulation within weeks, step up the implementation of the Biodiversity, Soil and Farm to Fork Strategies and commit to a truly regenerative economy. Like climate change, biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are existential threats to humanity and do not stop for anyone;
• On fertilisers, feed and food: focus on sustainable solutions instead of even more intensive-agriculture practices in the EU – on agro-ecological practices, on less and better animal farming with high animal welfare standards, reduced meat, dairy and egg consumption, and accelerating initiatives to reduce food waste. European food systems, both where they aim at ensuring food security in the region and globally must be fully coherent with the Green Deal and embedded in longer-term transition plans;
• Do not ramp up the burning of forests on grounds of energy independence and phase out the use of food crops for biofuels: other measures are far more effective and do not undermine air quality, public health, and biodiversity;
• Resist calls for deregulation of environmental safeguards – we need social and environmental protections. For example, the proposed fast-tracking permitting for renewable energy can help in some cases, but evidence-based environmental assessments and local participation remain essential for selecting the right projects, location, and ensuring community support. In addition, resist the call for derogations from important environmental safeguards - on nitrates, on pesticides residue levels, on CAP conditionality. The EU has environmental and health protection measures in place for very good reasons, and the crisis does not diminish the need for these protections.

The EU must remain a peace project at this turning point in history.

We, civil society, call on you to commit and implement the above. This can ensure that we are not victims of history but architects of a peaceful and sustainable future. Our common future.

We ask that decision-makers across the EU recognise the fundamental need to work together as never before for our common future and commit to the above