Bilateral meeting with H.E. Glenn Micallef, European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport

Rome - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu met with H.E. Glenn Micallef, European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport at FAO headquarters.

The Director-General welcomed the Commissioner and was pleased to note the appointment of a Commissioner with responsibility for youth by the European Union (EU).

Commissioner Micallef thanked the Director-General and highlighted that his mandate built on the legacy and roles of previous EU Commissioners by promoting fairness across generations. He spoke about the necessity to balance the energy of youth with the wisdom of experience and referred particularly to the issue of intergenerational renewal in agriculture. He further noted that the European Commission’s work on rural development was increasingly cross-cutting, involving multiple portfolios.

The Director-General observed that the Commissioner’s mandate aligned with FAO’s strategic priorities, and specifically the Director-General’s initiatives to empower youth and women, such as through the establishment of the Youth Dialogue, the Intergenerational Dialogue, the FAO Youth Committee and FAO Women’s Committee, as well as the Office of Youth and Women.

The Commissioner noted that the average age of farmers in the EU was 57 and emphasized the need for rural development policies that go beyond financial support to include infrastructure, services, and opportunities for young people in rural areas.

The Director-General noted that this was a global trend and stressed the importance of market linkages, cold storage, and the consideration of holding sizes that are economically viable for young entrepreneur farmers. He also shared lessons from FAO’s work in other regions, where similar demographic and structural challenges persisted.

The Director-General highlighted FAO’s cooperation with the EU and referred to the recent AU–EU Ministerial Conference hosted at FAO, as well as the annual World Food Forum (WFF) in October emphasizing the important role of the WFF’s Youth Forum as a youth-led, inclusive platform that brought together diverse voices from all sectors.

The Commissioner expressed strong support for the WFF and the Youth Forum and also referred to the importance of ensuring that all children had access to healthy meals and food education. The pair discussed the importance of education and the challenge in changing habits towards healthier diets. In this regard, the Director-General referred to FAO’s Junior World Food Day, which included food education activities.

Finally, the Director-General briefed the Commissioner on the upcoming launch of the FAO Museum and Network on 16 October on World Food Day to mark FAO’s 80th Anniversary, informing that in addition to the physical museum in FAO, the network would also link traditional food cultures and landscapes, connecting rural communities around the world through a digital platform.