The European Commission’s Work Programme for 2026 is out today – and there’s no mention of the cage ban that we’re owed, or any other improvements for animals raised for food in the bloc, despite what Commissioner Várhelyi promised several times this year.
Despite the ‘End the Cage Age’ European Citizens’ Initiative gathering 1.4 million verified signatures from across the EU and being the only ECI that prompted the European Commission to commit to implementing all its requests, the Commission failed to propose a ban on cages by its self-imposed 2023 deadline – and today it seems they’ve made no effort to rectify that.
Part of a promised overhaul of EU animal welfare legislation – now being referred to as ‘modernization’, and currently open to a public consultation – the phase-out of cages has been hinted at for 2026 by Animal Welfare Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, for example at 31 March’s EU Animal Welfare Platform meeting, as well as at the AGRI Committee meeting on 8 April, at least for laying hens. But that’s nowhere to be seen in today’s Work Programme.
“We knew that this term was looking grim for animals raised in the EU for food, with plans like the Farm to Fork strategy giving way to endless “dialogue,” and the stalling of the only active animal welfare file, the revision of the Animal Transport Regulation,” says Gabriela Kubíková, Legislative Advocacy Manager at The European Institute for Animal Law & Policy. “Nevertheless, we heard over and over again from Commissioner Várhelyi that the Commission is working on proposals to respond to the End the Cage Age ECI specifically. But today our hopes are dashed, as is our trust in him.
“Despite the demands of the vast majority of Europeans, EU’s animals continue to be treated as mere commodities The scientific findings of EFSA, and the Commission’s own fitness check in 2022 continue to be ignored – and despite EU’s authorities and industry congratulating themselves that EU has the best standards for animals raised for food, the evidence clearly shows that the protection provided by these laws is paper-thin, as they are outdated and their enforcement is poor.”
Attitude matters – and language matters. We notice that in the new Work Programme, any nod to animal welfare is in relation to the Livestock Strategy, under the section ‘Sustaining our quality of life’. What about their quality of life?
How long do we have to wait, how loud do we have to shout, how hard do we have to fight, until Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU – which mandates that the EU and its Member States “pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals” by virtue of their sentience – reaches the hearts and minds of the people who can really make it happen?
We already know that Europe’s citizens want to see an end to caged farming, with 1.4 million adding their signatures to the ‘End the Cage Age’ ECI. We also know that in 2021, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for a ban. Now, just ahead of the European Commission’s release of its Work Programme for 2026, it seems that more than 30 French MPs – most of whom are on the right or center of the political spectrum – feel the same way.
As Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers her State of the Union address, we note the absence of any mention of plans that will improve the lives of Europe’s animals.
In the European Commission’s Vision for Agriculture and Food, we see little that gives us confidence that things will change for animals. Is it simply a band-aid on a broken bone—covering up the issues without addressing the deeper, structural problems that need real transformation?
