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Ministers discussed the EU’s response to the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) to ‘End the Cage Age’. The aim of this campaign, which received 1.4 million signatures from across the EU, is to ban the caging of farm animals such as hens, rabbits, geese, ducks, female pigs and calves. While many delegations took the floor to express their support for this initiative, they also pointed out that such a move could potentially have a negative impact on farmers, both in terms of the costs of the transition and a loss of competitiveness vis-à-vis non-EU countries. They therefore called on the Commission to carry out a full impact assessment of the initiative, as well as to provide funding for farmers transitioning away from cage systems. Finally, they pointed out the need to apply the same animal welfare standards to agricultural products imported from non-EU countries.
On 30 June 2021, the Commission adopted a Communication responding to this ECI, in which the Commission concludes that it intends to propose to phase out and finally prohibit the use of cage systems, for all the requested species and categories, under conditions (including the length of a transitional period) to be determined based on opinions from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), expected to issue these opinions in 2022 and 2023. and an impact assessment, based on a study of the environmental and socio-economic consequences of, inter alia, the phasing out of cages that will take account of animal welfare benefits, the social and economic needs of the farming sector in the EU, including of small farms, the international trade dimension and environmental aspects.
This will be included as one of the key objectives of the revision of the animal welfare legislation that the Commission has committed to propose by the last quarter of 2023.
These elements will be taken into account when determining the length of a reasonable transition period and the accompanying and supporting measures to facilitate the transition. The Commission will assess in particular the feasibility of working towards the proposed legislation entering into force from 2027.
July 19, 2021/ Consilium/ European Union.
https://www.consilium.europa.eu
