Five years ago, things seemed to be looking up for Europe\u2019s animals. We had a new President of the Commission who seemed supportive, and the promise of a complete revision of animal welfare legislation in the Farm to Fork strategy. Re-elected for this new term, Von der Leyen has also been the first President to make sure that one member of her cabinet has animal welfare in their title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, though, things are looking more gloomy. Last year, concrete plans and actions gave way to talking and prevarication\u2014the so-called \u201cstrategic dialogue\u201d. The promised overhaul of animal welfare laws shrank to a revision of the rules on animal transport, and an unexpected\u2014but not unwelcome\u2014proposal on the traceability of cats and dogs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And End the Cage Age, the only ECI to receive a positive commitment from the Commission? Despite being presented with 1.4 million signatures, they haven’t honored their side of the bargain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stemming from the strategic dialogue, we now have today\u2019s \u201cVision for Agriculture and Food\u201d. While heavy with its praise for the farming sector throughout the text, it forgets about citizens and consumers. Where it does <\/em>mention animal welfare, it is in terms of \u201craising global standards […] in areas critical for ensuring fair competition\u201d<\/em>. Even when addressing the \u201cEU\u2019s concerns about animal welfare and environmental protection\u201d<\/em> and \u201cto uphold EU\u2019s moral values in response to societal demand\u201d<\/em>, the Commission will \u201cpursue, in line with international rules, a stronger alignment of production standards applied to imported products”<\/em>\u2014which doesn\u2019t necessarily mean improvement of EU legislation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Elsewhere in the text, things appear more hopeful; but still with the provision that any action \u201ccan present new opportunities for farmers.\u201d<\/em> It promises to \u201cpresent proposals on the revision of the existing animal welfare legislation, including its commitment to <\/em>phase out cages<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d<\/em> Great news! However, the wording is again tied to the impact on farmers, whose lobby groups will have the power to block advances: \u201cThis revision will […] take into account the socio-economic impact on farmers and the agri-food chain, providing support and appropriate, species-specific transition periods and pathways.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, a vague suggestion, made solely to appease the voters: \u201cthe Commission will <\/em>consider <\/em><\/strong>targeted labelling in relation to animal welfare <\/em>to address societal expectations<\/em><\/strong>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Olga Kikou, Director of Advocacy at The European Institute of Animal Law & Policy and one of the organizers of the \u2018End the Cage Age\u2019 European Citizens\u2019 Initiative, stated: <\/strong>\u201cThis Vision is just that<\/em>\u2014a Vision<\/em>\u2014rather than a real plan or a set of concrete actions. It\u2019s reassuring to see cages mentioned, and we are waiting to see what the Commission have up their sleeves in regards to this. However, what is glaringly missing is a reference to the urgent need for a change in our diets. A shift towards more plant-based consumption is crucial for the much-needed reduction in animal numbers in farming, as well as having an amazing impact on animal welfare, climate change, public health, and more. What we need are actual solutions for nature-friendly farming that can improve animal welfare.\u201d <\/em> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019re also missing anything related to improved welfare for chickens, <\/strong>reduced stocking densities<\/strong>, an end to more routine mutilations<\/strong>, better welfare for aquatic animals<\/strong>, and the phasing out of cruel slaughter practices<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By focusing on these, policymakers would be both respecting the rising expectations of voters and addressing the urgent need for progress in our food system, made all the more critical as the impact of the climate crisis accelerates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This five-year term can, and must, bring this much-needed reform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" La vision de la Commission europ\u00e9enne pour l'agriculture et l'alimentation ne nous permet gu\u00e8re de croire que les choses vont changer pour les animaux. S'agit-il simplement d'un pansement sur un os cass\u00e9, couvrant les probl\u00e8mes sans s'attaquer aux probl\u00e8mes plus profonds et structurels qui n\u00e9cessitent une v\u00e9ritable transformation ? <\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[40,39,13],"language":[26],"class_list":["post-2622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-animal-law","tag-farmed-animals","tag-food-transition","language-english"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2622"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2624,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622\/revisions\/2624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2622"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=2622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}