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Good Food For All!
The signature collection for the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “Food is a Human Right for All!”, launched by Fondazione Mater in collaboration with Fondazione Pistoletto Cittadellarte and FIAN Switzerland, began on 7 January 2026.
The signature collection for the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “Food is a Human Right for All!” officially opened on 7 January 2026. The Initiative calls on the European Union to recognize food as a fundamental human right through binding legislative measures, ensuring access for all people living in the EU to adequate, sustainable, and dignified food.
The Initiative originates from a democratic process developed in Geneva, initiated by Fondazione Mater in collaboration with Fondazione Pistoletto Cittadellarte and FIAN Switzerland. It is the result of a structured, multi-year process of civic participation and transnational cooperation focused on the right to food as a political and democratic issue.
The project represents a clear and tangible expression of Demopraxy, the philosophical and operational paradigm conceived by Paolo Naldini, Director of Fondazione Pistoletto Cittadellarte. Demopraxy promotes a unique model of social transformation in which art becomes a tool for active and collective participation, engaging individuals and communities to turn ideas and visions into concrete and sustainable actions.
The preparatory process of the Initiative is based on the operational framework of the Demopratic Work, structured in three phases: Mapping, Forum, and Action. This framework connects communities of practice, civil society organizations, and cultural institutions within participatory governance processes oriented toward concrete political outcomes.
“Good Food For All demonstrates how Demopraxy can translate a cultural journey into concrete political action. The right to food is not about assistance, but a collective responsibility that Europe is called upon to assume as the foundation of its future as a prosperous and just society — the most ambitious work of art currently being realized in the world.”, stated Paolo Naldini.
The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is a participatory democratic instrument provided for under EU law that enables citizens to formally invite the European Commission to propose new legislation. To be considered, an ECI must collect at least one million validated signatures from EU citizens across a minimum number of Member States. Although the Commission is not obliged to adopt the proposed legislation, it is legally required to examine the initiative, meet with its organizers, and publicly respond to its requests.
The Initiative is supported by the Good Food For All Coalition, a European network of civil society organizations born out of the Second Demopractic Forum on the Right to Food, organized by Fondazione Pistoletto Cittadellarte in Geneva in May 2024. The Forum involved over 200 European organizations active in the social, agricultural, and environmental sectors, creating an unprecedented political platform. The Coalition currently brings together more than 240 organizations from across Europe, active in the fields of social policy, agriculture, environment, and human rights, working collectively to advance concrete policy proposals for fairer and more sustainable food systems.
Objectives of the Initiative
Through this European Citizens’ Initiative, citizens call on the European Commission to:
• recognize food as a fundamental human right within EU policies and legislation;
• move beyond emergency-based and assistance-oriented approaches to food access;
• ensure dignified, adequate, and sustainable food for all people living in the European Union;
• strengthen policy coherence between agricultural, social, health, and environmental policies in relation to the right to food.
The official public launch of the European Citizens’ Initiative took place on 14 January 2026 in Place Luxembourg, in front of the European Parliament in Brussels.
On this occasion, participants staged a peaceful flash mob, collectively creating the symbol of the Third Paradise conceived by Michelangelo Pistoletto, representing the search for balance between nature and human-made systems.
The Initiative saw broad and diverse participation, with numerous organizations from the coalition in attendance, including Fondazione MATER, Fondazione Pistoletto Cittadellarte, Artivazione, Slow Food, Caritas Europa, Compassion in World Farming, ECVC – Via Campesina, and Arche de Noé.
The event also received direct support from Members of the European Parliament, including Anja Hazekamp, Dutch MEP from the Party for the Animals, and Tilly Metz, Luxembourgish MEP from the Greens/European Free Alliance group, who expressed their backing for the demands advanced by the ECI.
Annalisa Corrado, Italian MEP and member of the ENVI Committee, also supported the initiative.
A central figure in the mobilization was Olga Kikou, Director of Advocacy at Animal Advocacy & Food Transition and EU Coordinator of the ECI Food is a Human Right for All, who reiterated the deeper meaning of this civic action:
“Food is a fundamental human right: we want all Europeans to have access to healthy, nutritious food, produced with respect for animals and at affordable prices. This European Citizens’ Initiative represents another step in a much longer struggle to ensure that citizens’ voices truly count in European Union policies. People want a food system that works for them, for farmers, and for animals. They do not want food produced through intensive models nor transported from the other side of the world. This mobilization will continue until these demands are taken seriously.”
How to Participate
The signature collection has been open to all EU citizens since 7 January 2026. Each signature contributes to reaching the threshold required for the Initiative to be formally examined by the European Commission.
Food is a European political responsibility.
