A new report published today reveals who voted for or against the revision of EU’s outdated animal welfare legislation.
The report by animal welfare NGO Compassion in World Farming focused on 16 votes since 2019, during the current Parliamentary term, and gave each of the 702 MEPs a score from 0% to 100% based on how they voted - with 100% indicating highest support for farmed animals.
The votes covered a broad range of issues - caged farming, animal transport, EU farm subsidies, factory farming, alternatives to animal products, foie gras production, chick culling and other files concerning farmed animals - be it terrestrial or aquatic.
The data show that green and left-wing groups, Greens/EFA and The Left, voted consistently in support of measures to improve animal welfare. The European People’s Party (EPP) and other groups on the right side of the political spectrum, European Conservatives and Reformists and Identity and Democracy, voted against.
The scores range from 96 % (Greens/EFA) to 23 % (EPP), with the Socialists & Democrats with an average score of 50 %.
The NGO slammed this as a coordinated attack by political leaders and big agroindustry lobbies to thwart the EU’s planned animal welfare reform based on new scientific data from its own expert agency, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
The analysis is published after disclosures that the EU was backtracking on its commitment to revise its animal welfare laws, including putting an end to caging farmed animals. This demand was supported by an European Citizens’ Initiative which was accepted by the European Commission and was supposed to be implemented by 2027.
As previously reported, Executive Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič deprioritized animal welfare when he recently was questioned by the European Parliament after the European Commission had nominated him in charge of the European Green Deal.
During the hearing, the European People’s Party coordinator for agriculture files, MEP Herbert Dorfmann, put pressure on him not to present the animal welfare proposals during the remaining term of the Commission. The European People’s Party would apparently have opposed a full-scale proposal for the EU to revise its animal welfare legislation.
“The farming lobbies have managed to convince certain political groups to present themselves as speaking for farmers ahead of the 2024 European election,” commented Olga Kikou, Head of Compassion in World Farming EU.
“These groups push for keeping the status quo, which does not help farmers prepare for the future and address the sustainability challenges they face in the 21st century. Citizens care deeply about animals. Next year’s elections can turn out to be yet another protest vote, fueling anti-EU voices.”
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
