The European Commission’s newly elected President, Ursula von der Leyen, announced in her speech on Thursday ahead of the vote in the European Parliament that she intends to appoint a number of commissioners to tackle new policy areas but omitted animal welfare.
As previously reported, von der Leyen was elected for a second five-year term by a majority of 401 votes to 284 or 56 % of the 720 members of the parliament (some votes were blank or invalid).
Among new political initiatives, she also listed new commissioners who will deal with areas that have been neglected or became more important during her first mandate, such as defence policy and the Mediterranean region and housing and intergenerational policies. The new commissioners will be tasked to initiate certain plans but nothing was said about their budgets and competencies.
It was perhaps expected that she would also have taken the opportunity to announce a commissioner for animal welfare, especially as agriculture has been a hot topic before the European Elections. In a campaign before the elections, 700 candidate MEPs pledged to improve animal welfare if they were elected to the European Parliament.
Among the pledges was also a commitment to work for the appointment of a European Commissioner with responsibility for animal welfare in the EU. This campaign was launched in March 2021 and is supported by over 60 animal welfare organisations across Europe. By now, it has been signed by 310,000 citizens.
A special campaign focusing only on this issue started last year in the previous parliament and collected 206 signatures, about half of them MEPs in the new parliament, across the entire political spectrum. Five of the political party groups, including the two biggest ones that voted for von der Leyen’s reelection, made a reference to animal welfare in their election manifestos.
The goal is to appoint a commissioner with responsibility for animal welfare in his or her title by the latest in 2024. Improving animal welfare and completing the overhaul of EU’s outdated animal welfare legislation will also have implications for Europe’s agriculture and food system.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaking in the European Parliament, 18 July 2024, credit: EU
In her speech, von der Leyen talked about agriculture but did not mention animal welfare although she referred to the launch last January of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture in Europe. The working group is expected to present its report by September. Her agenda was focused on ensuring that farmers will receive a fair income and be better prepared for climate change.
“In view of the groundswell of support, it was very disappointing that President von der Leyen didn't include a reference to the Commissioner for Animal Welfare,” commented Reineke Hameleers, CEO of Eurogroup for Animals.
“Luckily it's not too late,” she added. “We call on the Commission to include this role within the job title of the new Commissioner for Health and Food Safety (SANTE) to ensure that animal welfare remains a priority, reflecting the asks of the citizens for the EU to do more in this area.”
Olga Kikou, Director of Advocacy with The European Institute for Animal Law & Policy and an organiser of the ‘End the Cage Age’ European Citizens’ Initiative, was also disappointed: “Unfortunately, there is a glaring omission on animal welfare in President von der Leyen’s speech to the European Parliament and her political guidelines.”
“The President covered many areas and referred to key issues, including making special references to farmers and the farming industry. Nevertheless, she stayed silent on delivering the legally-binding commitment to end caged farming and the broader revision of the animal welfare legislation. This omission signals a continuity of the last part of her term, where citizens’ repeated calls for animal welfare were ignored.”
“There is still an opportunity for the President to put the revision of the animal welfare legislation back on the agenda by including it in her Vision for Agriculture and Food, which she is set to present in her first 100 days of office,” she added.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
