EAPN Germany joined a broad coalition of civil society organisations at the Policies Against Hunger 2025 conference in Berlin, contributing lived experience of poverty to the discussions and outcomes of this important meeting. The conference convened civil society representatives from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America and addressed five core themes: access to land, gender equality, the role of the bioeconomy, agricultural value chains, and the right to food.
Civil society organisations used the event to argue that the right to food must be discussed in its full context, including conflicts and geopolitics. They raised the urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza, called for unequivocal political action and respect for international law, and pressed for people-centered policy responses to hunger everywhere.
Renate Krause, EAPN representative, pensioner and anti-poverty activist, delivered a powerful intervention in plenary underscoring how poverty in Europe is misrepresented, undermining human dignity, human rights, health and climate goals.
“This is contradicting, maybe even corrupting, the social state. Especially when I think of the costs to people’s health and to our planet. These are costs to the entire society, not just the individual. When you can’t afford to buy healthy and sustainable food, you can only buy food produced in ways that harm the climate and people, exploited and hungry elsewhere in the world.”
Speaking from personal experience, Renate exposed the harsh contradictions of poverty in one of the world’s wealthiest nations. She emphasized that this reality manifests daily in Germany, a welfare state where 17.6 million people – one-fifth of the population – live in poverty (predominantly women, children and pensioners) despite the nation’s “wealth”. Renate detailed how inflation-driven food price surges (up to 38% since 2023) have transformed basic nutrition into an unaffordable luxury, creating public health and climate crises as people are forced towards cheap, unsustainable options:
“Cheap food is jazzed up with artificial additives, so it is unhealthy. You must not trade hunger for health problems.”
Citing the Framingham Heart Study, she linked financial stress and social isolation to measurable illness, asking: “How can you be happy if you are constantly worrying about money?” She also condemned the €2.01 monthly welfare allowance for culture/education as institutionalised exclusion.
Her testimony framed dignity not as a privilege but as a fundamental right, one denied when structural poverty restricts food choices, crushes social participation and traps citizens in survival mode.
“Everyone should have the right to choose the food that keeps them and their children healthy, that tastes good to them, and that is good for the planet.”
EAPN Europe’s communications and policy teams had the pleasure of supporting Renate’s participation in this impactful conference, working closely with her to structure her speech and providing media training to strengthen her delivery. Meaningful and safe participation can only happen if tailored facilitation is available, equipping people experiencing poverty to engage on equal footing and ensure their voices shape policy debates and public discourse.
