New Commissioners must quickly deliver already overdue animal welfare reform

Compassion in World Farming is calling on European lawmakers to ensure that action to deliver on animal welfare commitments is central to the new Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare’s role in the new mandate and not just to the job title, in the confirmation hearings which start this week (4 November).

The NGO is urging MEPs to ensure that the next set of Commissioners is fully dedicated to delivering the ban on caged animal farming it promised as well as aligning EU animal welfare legislation with the latest scientific evidence by 2026 at the very latest, as recommended by the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of the EU Agriculture.

In answer to written questions ahead of the hearings, Animal Welfare Commissioner-candidate Olivér Várhelyi, committed to following up on the End the Cage Age ECI and modernising rules on animal welfare to match the latest science — but failed to provide a clear timeline.

While Compassion welcomes this commitment, it expects more ambition and clarity on the files pending to deliver on its promises. This includes the ban on caged animal farming, the review of EU animal welfare laws as well as on the delivery of species-specific legislation laying down minimum standards for the protection of laying hens, broilers, pigs, calves, rabbits and fishes.

The NGO also wants the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to be reviewed to align with these objectives and provide support for farmers who commit to phasing out cages, improving welfare standards and promoting regenerative agriculture.

Vinciane Patelou, Head of EU at Compassion in World Farming, said: “For the first time, animal welfare is central to a Commissioner’s title, matching citizens’ demands for better animal welfare standards, but this cannot be just window dressing. The previous executive failed EU citizens and science by not delivering the proposals it promised to ban cages and review the block’s animal welfare legislation in the last term.

“During these hearings, it must become crystal-clear that the title matches the ambitions and that presenting the long-awaited animal welfare proposals will be a key priority early in the mandate, in line with the recommendations of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture.

“MEPs, as democratically elected representatives, must speak up during the Commissioner hearings for the millions of animals farmed in the EU and ensure citizens demanding better animal welfare standards and a ban on cages are not let down again.”

For more information about Compassion’s work to end caged farming, visit www.endthecageage.eu

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For more information and quotes please email marta.vigano (at) ciwf.org

Notes to Editors

1. In response to the successful End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative, signed by over 1.4 million EU citizens and led by Compassion in World Farming, the European Commission made a clear and legally-binding commitment in 2021 to introduce legislative proposals by 2023 to end caged farming by 2027. It also announced it would ensure all imported products in the EU comply with future cage-free standards. Regrettably, the previous Commission has not delivered a proposal to ban cages.
2. In 2023, the Commission’s own Eurobarometer survey revealed that an overwhelming nine out of ten (89%) EU citizens – around 400 million people – believe animals should not be farmed in individual cages.
3. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has produced several Scientific Opinions recommending far-reaching changes to the current farming practices to improve the welfare of pigs, chickens reared for meat, egg laying hens, rabbits, ducks, geese, quail and dairy cows; as well as that cages should no longer be used for laying hens, breeding sows, quail and ducks.
4. Our report Food businesses paving the way for a cage-free Europe shows how several well-known European businesses are phasing out cages from their supply chains and calling on the European Commission to ensure a level-playing field by delivering a ban on cages.
5. In March 2024 the Citizen’s Committee of the End the Cage Age European Citizens Initiative (ECI) launched a landmark legal action against the European Commission.