{"id":3824,"date":"2026-07-07T18:55:03","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T16:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/?p=3824"},"modified":"2026-07-07T18:55:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T16:55:47","slug":"what-does-the-livestock-strategy-really-mean-for-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/what-does-the-livestock-strategy-really-mean-for-animals\/","title":{"rendered":"Que signifie r\u00e9ellement la strat\u00e9gie \u2018 \u00c9levage \u2019 pour les animaux ?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Commission\u2019s Livestock Strategy is simply a communication to the other EU institutions stating what the Commission plans to do \u2013 but it creates no legal obligations and, by itself, does not change legislation for animals. So what\u2019s in today\u2019s strategy, and is there any reason for optimism?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overall, the strategy recognizes the need to \u201cfuture-proof the sector by strengthening animal welfare conditions and minimising its climate and environmental footprint.&#8221; It also concedes that \u201canimal welfare is at the heart of citizens&#8217; concerns when it comes to livestock farming.\u201d Specifically, the strategy announces it will \u201cphase out cages\u201d for laying hens and broilers, and reiterates the end of 2026 as the date by which it will propose the legal revision. The phase-out itself, notably, is not dated. As has happened many times before, the Commission has announced a laudable ambition without committing to a timeframe for accomplishing it. It instead stresses the need for &#8220;sufficient transition periods&#8221; and &#8220;support that spans the next financing period and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Commission also recognizes the need to engage in \u201cfurther efforts to bring down the costs and scale up the deployment\u201d of in-ovo sexing technologies, with the explicit goal of ending the killing of male chicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the first time, the Commission has announced a cage-free reform for pigs (&#8220;transition from crates to pen systems&#8221;) by the second quarter of 2027. On live transport, which has had Parliament at loggerheads for more than two years, the Commission promises \u201cconsider further steps, including possible alternatives to the export of animals for slaughter from the EU to third countries.\u201d Lastly, the Commission considers forcing importers to comply with EU chicken and pig welfare laws through \u201cequivalent import requirements\u201d \u2013 a measure both animal protection groups and EU producers have advocated for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the strategy also raises many concerns. There is no plan to end cages for calves, rabbits, geese, ducks, and quails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Worrying, too, is the claim that \u201cCutting-edge genomic and animal breeding techniques are a win-win for both economic and environmental outcomes.&#8221; Yet, genetic modifications and extreme breeding practices always come at the expense of the welfare of animals and can hardly be described as a \u201cwin-win.\u201d The experience of the hornless cows created through gene editing, who then turned out to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.earthisland.org\/journal\/index.php\/articles\/entry\/fda-antibiotic-resistance-gene-edited-dehorned-cattle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">resistant to antimicrobials<\/a>, highlights the dangers of so-called \u201ccutting-edge\u201d genomic techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Furthermore, despite the recent joint letter to Commissioner Hansen stressing that methane from agriculture must be addressed head on as a significant driver of climate change, the document changed the emissions calculation methodology to benefit biogenic methane emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cIn an ideal world, any \u2018livestock\u2019 strategy would propose a ban on factory farming,\u201d <\/em>explique Gabriela Kub\u00edkov\u00e1, responsable du plaidoyer l\u00e9gislatif \u00e0 l'Institut europ\u00e9en pour le droit et la politique des animaux. <em>\u201cWe can only regret how slow change is in this political context, at the expense of animals and to the benefit of dominant economic interests.\u201d&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cHowever, we\u2019re glad to see concrete dates in today\u2019s strategy, and we will be holding the Commission to those \u2013 especially in light of their past promises that are yet to be fulfilled. In fact, it\u2019s now been almost three years since they missed the deadline for the publication of the proposals revising animal welfare legislation. We won\u2019t rest until we see solid proposals with clear measures that respond to scientific recommendations and societal demand on how to improve animal welfare.\u201d<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>La Commission europ\u00e9enne a d\u00e9voil\u00e9 aujourd\u2019hui sa strat\u00e9gie en mati\u00e8re d\u2019\u00e9levage, ajoutant ainsi un nouveau document \u00e0 la s\u00e9rie de r\u00e9formes annonc\u00e9es par la Commission concernant les animaux d\u2019\u00e9levage. Mais les annonces seules ne suffiront pas \u00e0 am\u00e9liorer le sort des animaux. Nous poursuivrons notre combat, aux c\u00f4t\u00e9s d\u2019autres d\u00e9fenseurs des animaux et de citoyens engag\u00e9s, pour veiller \u00e0 ce que la Commission mette effectivement en \u0153uvre les r\u00e9formes annonc\u00e9es aujourd\u2019hui. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3825,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[39],"language":[26],"class_list":["post-3824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","tag-farmed-animals","language-english"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3824","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=3824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3826,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3824\/revisions\/3826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3824"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animallaweurope.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=3824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}