We urge the European Commission to keep its promise to revise the European animal welfare legislation and deliver the proposals. In 2020, the European Commission promised to have a groundbreaking reform of the European animal welfare legislation. It was promised that the proposals for this revision would be published by the end of 2023. 

So far, the European Commission has disappointed with its inaction. According to the recently published work program of the European Commission for 2024, the Commission does not seem to want to keep its democratic promise. Instead of delivering a comprehensive revision of EU animal welfare legislation as promised, there is now only talk of reforming transport conditions.

This is not enough and ignores the horrible living conditions of billions of animals and the wishes of millions of European citizens. This is unacceptable!

Merely updating the live transport rules will leave billions of animals at the mercy of outdated laws or, in some cases, without the protection of any welfare-related legislation at all. The European Commission is letting down the democratic will by neglecting the clear expression of millions of EU citizens, scientific opinion and all the animals affected by the Commission’s inaction. Moreover, it risks having decade-long work go to waste, abandoning science and ethics.

We urge European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, to come through now and publish the proposals within the political term. 

What is at risk?
This legislative reforms sets out how farm animals will be kept, transported and slaughtered in the European Union over the coming decades. The revision could especially bring:  

• a prohibition against keeping animals like chickens, ducks, geese, quails, rabbits, sows and calves in cages or crates;
• a prohibition of the systematic killing of male chicks and female ducklings on the day of hatching;
• strict regulations for the live transport of animals, especially transport in Non-EU countries and long-distance transport;
• a ban of all fur farms in the EU;
• a prohibition of amputations and mutilations like tail docking, ‘debeaking’, ‘dehorning’ and teeth grinding without anesthesia
• a prohibition against keeping cows tethered in one place that restricts them to standing or sitting; and
• regulations for the living conditions and slaughter of farmed fish. 

Why now?
We now have at hand one of the greatest opportunities to improve the living conditions of billions of animals. If the European Commission does not deliver the promised proposal now, it is unlikely that there will be a revision at all. Next year, the terms of both the European Parliament and the European Commission expire. The next Commission and Parliament could pick up the proposals, but they are not obligated to.

“If it matters to Europeans, it matters to Europe.”

In her State of the Union speech, President von der Leyen said, “If it matters to Europeans, it matters to Europe.” 90% of Europeans consider that farming and breeding practices should meet basic ethical requirements. An astonishing 1.4 and 1.5 million people signed for the ECI’s “End the Cage Age” and “Fur Free Europe”. 

Without any doubt, the protection of animals matters to European humans and, of course, to European animals.

Act for Animals Now, President von der Leyen!

Find out more and be part of our protest poster design campaign and action day: www.actforanimals.eu