Strategic Pathways for Animal Welfare Reform within the EU

11 minute learn

This can be a visitor weblog put up. All opinions are that of the visitor blogger.

Proper now, 300 million farmed animals throughout the European Union are confined to cages¹. Because the world’s  third-largest meat producer², the EU accounts for roughly 8% of all land animals slaughtered globally,³ with farms rearing 74 million cows, 133 million pigs, 68 million sheep and goats, and a number of other billions birds in 2023.⁴ Past home consumption, the EU can also be a significant participant in worldwide commerce, with 1.6 billion reside animals transported amongst member states, and to or from non-EU nations, between 2017 and 2021.⁵

In the present day, the EU stands on the point of a historic alternative to remodel its animal welfare laws into probably the most superior on the planet. Following a missed alternative in late 2023, a brand new political window has opened for vital reforms, together with the phase-out of cages and the ban on systematic killing of chicks and ducklings.

The present scale of cage confinement stays in depth. As of 2024, roughly 38% of the EU’s laying hens (155 million hens) are nonetheless housed in cages. The scenario is extra extreme for different species: an estimated 94% of farmed rabbits (72 million people) and 96% of breeding sows (10 million pigs) are stored in confined situations for a lot of their lives.⁶

Animals in cages are extraordinarily constrained and infrequently have little to no alternative to precise their pure behaviours. Hens are unable to dust-bathe, perch, forage or totally unfold their wings; rabbits can not hop or dig; and sows are continuously stored in stalls so small they can’t even flip round and take correct care of their piglets. In lots of instances, these cages are overcrowded, resulting in elevated stress, aggression, and the unfold of illness.⁷ In different situations, animals could also be housed in isolation and disadvantaged of important social interplay. The European Meals Security Authority, the EU’s central scientific physique, has itself really useful ending cage use for breeding hens, geese, geese, quails, and sows in its newest stories.⁸ 

These practices not solely elevate critical moral issues throughout the EU but additionally underscore the Union’s accountability to drive change properly past its borders. The EU has a selected capability to exert such affect due to what’s often known as the “Brussels Impact.” Because of the EU’s huge market and regulatory affect, stricter requirements adopted throughout the EU usually ripple outward, prompting international producers to lift their requirements to keep up entry to European customers. Specifically, introducing mirror clauses, which require imported merchandise to adjust to the identical requirements as these enforced throughout the EU, could possibly be a strong technique of enhancing animal welfare internationally. Such measures can also assist bridge the pursuits of farmers and animal advocates, since they might be sure that farmers are usually not uncovered to competitors from much less regulated markets⁹.

European advocates are mobilizing to satisfy the problem. They’re lively at numerous ranges, in Brussels and throughout their residence nations, working by way of the Eurogroup for Animals and forming advert hoc coalitions. A number of campaigns are pressuring European Establishments for formidable laws: ActForAnimals.eu¹⁰ led by Animal Society, #ForwardForAnimals¹¹ led by the Eurogroup for Animals, and Uncage The Legislation¹² coordinated by the L214 with eight companion organizations. Given the shortage of sources, the magnitude of the stakes, and this slim window of alternative, we, as a motion, should suppose strategically and act accordingly. That’s the reason, in 2024 and 2025, Animal Society has consulted with advocates, specialists, and journalists, and accomplished an in depth literature evaluate to attract classes from previous experiences and assist strengthen the motion’s effectiveness.

The Street to Reform.

The EU’s journey towards a extra sustainable and moral meals system tells a narrative of unprecedented citizen mobilization and preliminary political commitments, adopted by sudden delays and missed deadlines. This timeline exhibits how a historic alternative for change has stalled regardless of overwhelming public assist.

September 2018

• “Finish the Cage Age” Marketing campaign Launches This European Citizen Initiative unites 100+ organizations to finish caged farming throughout the EU.¹³ ECI’s are a mechanism that allows EU residents to suggest legislative adjustments to the European Fee in the event that they collect at the very least a million signatures from throughout Member states.¹⁴

December 2019

• European Inexperienced Deal Unveiled EU Fee presents formidable roadmap for local weather neutrality by 2050 and sustainable economic system transition.¹⁵ A core part of this imaginative and prescient is the Farm to Fork Technique. 

Could 2020

• Farm to Fork Technique Launched Complete meals system reform concentrating on pesticide discount, natural farming enlargement, and improved animal welfare.¹⁶

October 2020

• 1.4 Million Signatures Delivered “Finish the Cage Age” turns into one of the crucial profitable European Citizen Initiatives, demonstrating unprecedented public assist for animal welfare reform.

April 2021

• Parliamentary Listening to Marketing campaign organizers current their case to the European Parliament in public session.

June 2021

• Parliament Backs Cage Ban The European Parliament adopts decision endorsing gradual finish to caged farming and calling for legislative motion.¹⁷
• Fee Dedication In response to the ECI, the  European Fee pledges to desk a legislative proposal by the top of 2023 to: part out cages by 2027, lengthen the caged-free requirement to imported merchandise, and to supply incentives and monetary assist to European farmers.

Summer season 2023

• Warning Indicators Rumors flow into that welfare revision is perhaps delayed or dropped from legislative agenda.

September 2023

• Lacking from Work Program Fee President Ursula von der Leyen fails to say animal welfare revision in 2024 Work Program, fueling hypothesis a couple of lack of political will.

December  2023

• Deadline Missed European Fee fails to ship promised laws by year-end deadline.

March 2024

• Authorized Problem Animal organizations take the European Fee to the European Courtroom of Justice. That is the primary authorized motion over failure to behave on a profitable ECI.

January 2024

• Strategic Dialogue Begins In parallel, the European Fee launches talks with 29 representatives from farming, trade, NGOs, finance, and academia on EU agriculture’s future.¹⁸

February 2025

• New Imaginative and prescient Emerges Strategic Dialogue produces “Imaginative and prescient for Agriculture and Meals,” emphasizing legislative reform and aiming to enhance the competitiveness and equity of European meals manufacturing, together with the revision of animal welfare legal guidelines, such because the phasing out of cages and the alignment of requirements for imported merchandise to these produced throughout the EU

The Problem: Why Has Reform Been Stalled?

Regardless of rising public assist and scientific consensus for stronger animal welfare requirements, significant reform on the EU degree has stalled since late 2023. This deadlock outcomes from 5 key components which have created an ideal storm of resistance to alter.

1. United Business Opposition to Environmental Insurance policies

The meat, fertilizer, and pesticide industries have coordinated a powerful marketing campaign in opposition to the European Inexperienced Deal, notably concentrating on the Farm to Fork Technique and animal welfare revisions. These industries have funded their very own impression research to problem scientific findings, engaged in aggressive lobbying, and launched media campaigns to affect policymakers. The meat, fertilizer, and pesticide industries have coordinated a powerful marketing campaign in opposition to the European Inexperienced Deal, notably concentrating on the Farm to Fork Technique and animal welfare revisions. These industries have funded their very own impression research to problem scientific findings, engaged in aggressive lobbying, and launched media campaigns to affect policymakers. ^{19, 20, 21, 22}

2. Tensions Between Free Commerce and EU Import Requirements

Tensions persist throughout the European Fee between commerce liberalization and stricter welfare requirements, with DG TRADE usually viewing welfare necessities as obstacles to commerce agreements. The proposed EU-MERCOSUR deal exemplifies this problem, as elevated agricultural imports from nations with decrease welfare requirements danger undermining EU producers who face greater regulatory prices. The inclusion of “mirror clauses” in free commerce agreements are important to make sure imported merchandise meet EU welfare requirements, thereby defending each animal welfare and truthful competitors.

3. Institutional Challenges throughout the European Fee

The European Fee faces structural and useful resource constraints that restrict its capability to push for animal welfare reforms. The Higher Regulation Tips require in depth session processes and impression assessments that demand vital sources and time.²³ Two particular obstacles prevented animal advocacy teams from accessing key decision-makers, and made it difficult to advance evidence-based insurance policies: 1) the political underrepresentation of animal welfare in establishments; and a pair of) the opacity and complexity of the legislative processes the place the European Fee is concerned. These obstacles created an uphill battle in opposition to the sturdy trade opposition and competing political priorities that stood in the way in which of constructive change for animals .

4. Opposed Timing: Crises and Elections

The Russian invasion of Ukraine shifted priorities to meals safety and financial stability. The animal agriculture trade leveraged these occasions to argue that stricter welfare requirements would enhance meals costs. Going through this shock, the European Fee seems to have frozen, or at the very least to have stepped again from its commitments for the second. The timing of the reforms additionally coincided with European elections, discouraging policymakers from endorsing vital reforms.

5. Structural and Cultural Limitations of the Animal Advocacy Motion

The animal advocacy motion’s monetary constraints, with solely a small portion of restricted sources devoted to political lobbying. Ideological divisions between animal rights and welfare approaches hinder unified motion. Moreover,  a portion of the motion’s apolitical and even antipolitical custom resists participating with formal establishments.

Understanding these obstacles is step one to overcoming them. In our subsequent put up, we’ll discover the strategic pathways advocates can take to interrupt by way of this legislative gridlock and ship actual change for Europe’s 300 million caged animals.

1. Compassion in World Farming. (2024). Meals companies paving the way in which for a cage‑free Europe. https://www.ciwf.org/sources/reports-position-papers-briefings/food-businesses-paving-the-way-for-a-cage-free-europe/ reddit.com+15ciwf.org+15 

2. Meals and Agriculture Group of the United Nations. (2023). Meat market evaluate: Rising developments and outlook 2023. https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/5fcbf357-eac5-4e22-84ce-ec0936d5fb52/content material 

3. Ritchie, H., Rosado, P., & Roser, M. (2023). Animal welfare. Our World in Knowledge. https://ourworldindata.org/animal-welfare 

4. Eurostat. (2024). Agricultural manufacturing – livestock and meat. European Fee. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Agricultural_production_-_livestock_and_meat 

5. European Courtroom of Auditors. (2023). Transport of reside livestock within the EU. https://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECADocuments/RV-2023-03/RV-2023-03_EN.pdf 

6. Ibid. 

7. Humane Society Worldwide. (2010). Meals security and cage egg manufacturing.
   https://www.humaneworld.org/websites/default/recordsdata/uploads/property/pdfs/hsi-fa-white-papers/food_safety_risks_of_cage_egg.pdf 

8. European Meals Security Authority. (2023). Data session on the welfare of geese, geese and quail. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/websites/default/recordsdata/2023-05/infosession-23-may-2023-ducks-geese-quail.pdf 

9. Animal Coverage Worldwide. (2024). Making use of the UK’s Animal Welfare Requirements to Imports. https://www.animalpolicyinternational.org/applying-the-uk-animal-welfare-standards-to-imported-products 

10. Animal Society. (2024). Act for animals.
    https://www.actforanimals.eu/ 

11. Eurogroup for Animals.(2025). Ahead for animals.
    https://www.eurogroupforanimals.org/forward-animals 

12. L214. (2025). Uncage the legislation.
    https://uncagethelaw.eu/ 

13. European Fee. (2018). Finish the Cage Age initiative.https://www.endthecageage.eu/ 

14. European Fee. European Citizen’s initiative.
    https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/_en 

15. European Fee. (2019). The European Inexperienced Deal. https://ec.europa.eu/data/technique/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en 

16. European Fee. (2020). Farm to Fork Technique. https://ec.europa.eu/meals/farm2fork_en 

17. CIWF (2024). Finish the Cage Age initiative.https://www.endthecageage.eu/ 

18. European Fee. (2024). Strategic Dialogue on the way forward for EU agriculture. https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/overview-vision-agriculture-food/main-initiatives-strategic-dialogue-future-eu-agriculture_en 

19. Holland, N., & Tansey, R. (2022). A loud foyer for a silent spring: The pesticide trade’s poisonous lobbying techniques in opposition to Farm to Fork. Company Europe Observatory. https://www.corporateeurope.org/en/2022/03/loud-lobby-silent-spring 

20. InfluenceMap. (2024, Could 29). The European meat and dairy sector’s local weather coverage engagement. https://influencemap.org/report/The-European-Meat-and-Dairy-Sector-s-Local weather-Coverage-Engagement-28096 

21. Carter, N. (2024). Harvesting denial, distractions, and deception: Understanding animal agriculture’s disinformation methods and exploring options. Freedom Meals Alliance. https://www.freedomfoodalliance.org/thereport 

22. Win, T. L., Neslen, A., Kanter, J., Riva, P., Sapoch, J., Ramalho da Silva, B., Hekman, L., & Pang, T. (2023, October 23). Animal welfare wrecked: How an more and more assertive meat trade helped derail a historic democratic demand to enhance animal welfare requirements within the EU. Lighthouse Reviews. https://www.lighthousereports.com/investigation/animal-welfare-wrecked/ 

23. European Fee. (2023). Higher regulation: pointers and toolbox. https://fee.europa.eu/legislation/law-making-process/planning-and-proposing-law/better-regulation/better-regulation-guidelines-and-toolbox_en 

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About Thomas Hecquet

Having grown up on a farm, Thomas has labored throughout the animal trade for 10 years. Moved by the values of egalitarianism and solidarity, he has been part of the animal rights motion since 2006, principally in Germany and France, working in grassroot teams and worldwide organizations.
He’s now concerned in a company targeted on altering legal guidelines and establishments for animals: Animal Society and the “Animals in Democracy” community.

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