A resilient and resource-wise Europe: Sufficiency at the heart of the EU’s future

Seas At Risk joins négaWatt association and 73 more European organisations from civil society, academia, cities and local authorities, businesses and public service operators have endorsed a manifesto for sufficiency in Europe. The call for a resilient and resource-wise Europe was published ahead of the June 2024 European Parliament elections and European Council exchanges on the EU’s strategic agenda for the next European Institutions 2024-2029.

The manifesto calls on EU decision-makers to make sufficiency a central element of the EU’s strategic agenda. To respond effectively to the growing demand for energy, resources and materials in the EU, the next European Commission should propose a sufficiency strategy, aiming to integrate sufficiency into the 2040 legislative framework, as well as into all relevant policies. This will improve the continent’s resilience to all forms of risks, reduce costs, make it easier to achieve our climate and energy objectives, improve the quality of life of all Europeans and contribute to a more sustainable society.

Until now, sufficiency has not been part of European policy making – even though research, local authorities and citizens are increasingly calling for it. European institutions fully embracing this high-potential lever will make it possible to mobilise policies and structural changes across the continent and at all levels of governance. This is therefore a courageous and lucid call to respond structurally and systematically to the multiple crises Europe is facing.