Various animal protection associations belonging to the Spanish coalition End The Cage Agehave issued a statement explaining that they welcome last week’s commitment by the European Commission to present promised animal welfare law reform in 2026, starting with the ban on cage breeding.
At the last plenary session of the European Parliament in 2024, held yesterday in Strasbourg, Animal Welfare Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi announced that the Commission proposes to present improvements in animal welfare in 2026 required by EU citizens, in particular at the request of the 1.4 million citizens who supported the End the Cage Age (EtCA) European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI).
Animal welfare should not be postponed
The announcement came after months of mounting pressure from Members of the European Parliament across the political spectrum, who urged the Commission to include the animal welfare file in its work programme. Several EU countries, including Sweden, Denmark, the Czech Republic, France and Germany, have also asked the community authorities for this submit pending legislative proposals as soon as possible. Referring to the revision of animal welfare rules, Commissioner Várhelyi told European lawmakers: “Not only do we have to do it, we are going to do it.”
In 2021, and in response to the successful ICE “End the Cage Age”Signed by more than 1.4 million EU citizens, the Commission has made a formal and legally binding commitment to submit legislative proposals by 2023 to end cage farming by 2027. Unfortunately, the previous Commission did not keep its promise and shelved the proposals at the last minute.
In September this year, NGOs welcomed the consensus reached in the new report of the EU Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture – supported by 29 major federations of the agricultural sector, civil society and academia– calling on the European Commission to publish proposals to overhaul animal welfare standards and ban the use of cages by 2026.
The associations stated that: “This announcement is an important milestone in the fight to free 300 million animals that they are locked in cages across the EU every year; “We will work with the European Commission to ensure that the proposals are effectively implemented by 2026.”
And they added: ‘Important aspects regarding the application of the pending proposals on animal welfareand this is unacceptable: animals on farms have waited long enough. We will hold the Commission to account to keep its word to the millions of EU citizens demanding higher animal welfare standards.”
Comments
- According to Eurobarometer 2023, an overwhelming 89% of EU citizens – around 400 million people – believe that animals should not be raised in individual cages. However, throughout Europe there are approximately 300 million pigs, chickens, rabbits, ducks, quails and geese They still spend most of their lives in cages every year. Animals kept in cages are often confined in sterile, overcrowded environments or are completely deprived of social contact. They are unable to turn around or perform even the most basic behaviors.
- In a 2021 resolution, Parliament called on the European Commission to propose a law to phase out the use of cages on EU farms. Members of the European Parliament have repeatedly asked the Commission for an explanation why you have not submitted a proposal for cage-free breeding. In November 2024, several MEPs presented an oral question on the revision of the remaining legislative acts in the field of animal welfare.
- At the last AGRIFISH Council before the EU Parliament elections in June, several Member States, led by Slovenia, called on the Commission to “put animal welfare at the heart of the European Commission’s next agenda”. Similarly, in November 2024, several Member States urged the Commission to include legislative proposals pending animal welfare issues in the work programme of the Commission by 2025.
While NGOs agree that efforts are being made and that Steps have been taken towards significant improvements in animal welfareemphasize that there is still no definitive date for the presentation of the full revision of this necessary legislation.