NNewly released documents from within Europe’s most powerful agricultural lobby show how it delayed, watered down and reversed some of the most sweeping agricultural reforms in the EU’s history, including plans to halve pesticide use.
Copa Cogeca describes itself as the voice of 22 million farmers across the continent and enjoys unparalleled access to EU parliamentarians. It is also referred to as a “partner in policy planning.”
So when the EU launched a radical agricultural reform plan in 2020 in response to concerns about climate change and the natural crisis, Copa Kogeka sprung into action, developing a lobbying strategy in February 2021. Dozens of documents documenting Copa Kogeka’s internal meetings, obtained by Grilled (an investigative reporting project focused on food systems) and the Guardian newspaper, offer a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the lobbying firm.
Controversial animal products such as foie gras and fur would be defended “just like tobacco,” Copa Kogeka secretary general Pekka Pesonen told members at the time.
The EU’s main goal was to halve the use of pesticides to protect biodiversity. Copa Kogeka’s response, according to the document, was a combination of delaying tactics and increased lobbying.
A memo from September 2022 states: “The European Parliament elections will take place in 2024.” “Maybe it’s worth postponing until then. We have to force the (European) Commission to abandon its objective.”
At the same meeting, the lobby group decided to call for a new impact assessment of the policy, which the committee would undertake at the end of the year, delaying the policy-making process by six months. The following spring, after rejecting a European Parliament report on the policy as “aggressive”, member states presented a privately commissioned study highlighting the economic impact to EU ambassadors at the Copa Cogeca event. According to the minutes, member states “expressed their understanding.”
The document also documents the group’s lobbying efforts to protect the use of glyphosate, a pesticide harmful to bees that the World Health Organization’s cancer control arm classifies as probably carcinogenic. The office told members it would “pressure its permanent representative to support” the renewal of glyphosate’s license. “Copa Kogeka plans to send a letter to the permanent representative.”
“Copa Kogeka is focused on obstructing, delaying and ultimately destroying the regulation of sustainable pesticide use. They are acting in the interests of large agrochemical multinationals and against the well-being of small and medium-sized farmers,” said Austrian Green Party lawmaker Thomas Weitz, who serves on the agriculture committee.
Copa Kogeka has been working to protect the use of glyphosate, a pesticide that is harmful to bees. Photo: Arterra Picture Library/Alamy
Pesticide regulations were lifted in February 2024, months before the elections that Copa Kogeka had deliberately postponed.
The EU is currently debating a proposal to abolish the periodic safety reassessment required for pesticides already on the market.
Reducing red meat consumption was also a major focus. The EU spends hundreds of millions of euros each year on agricultural marketing, including the “Be Fatarian” campaign that launched in 2020 and sparked a backlash from activists. When the commission proposed restricting funding from red and processed meat as part of the fight against cancer, Copa Kogeka saw it as an existential threat.
“We’re not just talking about promotional policies here,” officials said at a January 2022 meeting. “If meat is treated this way locally, it will spill over into other policies.”
Copa Kogeka has coordinated a three-member nominating committee to challenge the new guidelines, bringing on wine and alcohol lobby groups as allies and directing members to put pressure on governments to lift restrictions. The measures were weakened the following year. The following year, health standards were quietly lowered. Copa Kogeka’s verdict: “Lobbying has borne fruit.”
Copa Kogeka acted quickly to undermine regulations on factory farms before the public saw them. An internal memo from 2022 said a letter to senior members resulted in the criteria for being considered an industrial farm (based on the number of animals farmed) to be increased by 50% before the proposal was announced. Analysis found the changes cost the population €1.8bn (£1.5bn) a year in health benefits.
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This was just the beginning of a multi-year operation. Deputies were taken on an organized farm visit in Belgium. A media campaign has been launched. The letter was sent to EU ambassadors ahead of the crucial European Council vote. On the day of the final parliamentary vote, tractors and invited MPs gathered outside the European Parliament in Strasbourg, where a “large screen showing the IED (Industrial Emissions Directive) vote” was live-streamed.
The final law was even weaker, significantly raising standards for poultry and pig farms and excluding cattle completely. The original proposal would have covered only about 1% of Europe’s livestock farms. Marco Contiero, head of agricultural policy at Greenpeace EU, said that instead of protecting the majority of Europe’s farmers, Copa Cogeca “chose to protect a small number of highly industrialized operators who are responsible for most of the pollution.”
Copa Kogeka’s lobbying efforts led to livestock farms being exempted from EU rules on factory farming. Photo: Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images
When it comes to animal welfare, Copa Kogeka’s private admission and public stance tell different stories. At a 2021 internal meeting, officials said that with financial support, the industry could phase out cage farming immediately. However, Copa Kogeka’s lobbying position required a transition period of up to 15 years. The European Commission is expected to announce plans to phase out cages for laying hens by the end of 2026, several years after its original promise.
As for wolves, Copa Kogeka spent years trying to strip wolves of their protected status from EU nature law, a goal that wolf officials privately described as “probably naive” because the directive had been left untouched for 30 years. However, in September 2024, the executive board declared, “This is a huge lobbying victory. The battle is over.” The Habitats Directive was amended in June 2025. According to Copa Kogeka documents, the group immediately began compiling a list of other animals and birds it wanted to target next.
Copa Kogeka declined to respond to multiple requests for comment.
A European Commission spokesperson said the decision was taken “on European terms, according to European rules and in European interests”.
“Big agriculture’s interest is not in simplifying the Green Deal,” said Delara Burkhardt, a German lawmaker on the environment committee. “We want to tear it down.”
For a detailed report on this investigation, please see Grilled.
