Kyriakides EU debates on the European Citizens' Initiative End the cage age

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The hearing clearly showed that the End the Cage Age initiative enjoys broad support. Our citizens CARE about animal welfare. The question for us therefore is not whether its aims should be addressed, but rather on how the EU should respond to achieve a phasing-out of cages for certain animal species.

The draft resolution you are due to vote on today listens to the concerns of our citizens and shows the path to a transition to cage-free farming as soon as feasible.

Our rules need to change – and that is a clear call from our citizens.

During the hearing, the organisers of the citizens’ initiative also called for measures to accompany the phasing out of cages, such as:

financial support for farmers in respect to the transition they will go through; and
an application of the same standards to imported products.
The Commission is looking at these requests, taking into account the need for a science-based approach and the EU’s obligations under the WTO.

Of course, the Commission’s commitment to improve the welfare of animals is nothing new. It stretches back decades.

I said during the hearing in April, it remains a moral, health and economic imperative.

And for me, a personal and a political commitment to strive for change.

Our promise under the Farm to Fork Strategy to undertake a thorough review of existing EU animal welfare legislation will be delivered into action.

Work on this has already started. Even if the EU has truly done a lot in the area of animal welfare, more needs and can be done. And we are determined to join forces with you towards this direction.

We have completed the evaluation of our 2012-2015 Animal Welfare Strategy, the findings of which are available online.

They reveal an overall improvement in animal welfare across the EU in recent years and that we have come a long way since the first EU legislation on animal welfare in 1970s.

Equally the evaluation points to areas where we could perform better, including simplifying the legislative framework.

In addition, the fitness check of existing EU animal welfare legislation is under way. The Commission will report back on this by next year.

Your views in today’s debate, the resolution we are discussing and the follow-up we will give to this initiative later this month, will be valuable inputs when we review the legislation and decide on future actions.

Independent scientific research and an analysis of the social and economic impacts will be our compass when developing legislation and addressing our citizens concerns.

It is clear that in this endeavour we will need measures to mitigate the impact on farmers when they need to make structural adaptations to the way they produce.

At the same time, we acknowledge the demand for sustainable food systems, the ethical dimensions around farming animals and the need to find solutions that involve farmers but also society at large.

In your resolution, you have highlighted the need for a more comprehensive food policy and a well-functioning supply chain where all steps in the chain take their responsibility for more sustainability. It is what we set in motion with the Farm to Fork Strategy. And the actions we are discussing today and taking in the area of animal welfare are important building blocks of our sustainable food policy.

Honourable Members,

I am waiting to hear with great interest the issues you will raise which will feed into our work. Acting to improve the welfare of animals is an ethical, social and also economic imperative. We should listen to our citizens voices and make this transition to more sustainable approaches as smooth as possible.

This is European democracy in action and at its best. As such, it deserves our support and attention.

[antoniocavaco]

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