The European Ombudsman started the new year with a request to the European Commission to reply to several complainants as to why it has not followed-up with a legislative proposal on the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) ‘End the Cage Age’.
As previously reported, over 30 animal welfare organisations submitted on 23 November a complaint to the European Ombudsman against the Commission’s failure to fulfil a commitment to European citizens.
In its response last year to the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) “End the Cage Age”, the Commission promised to put forward a legislative proposal by 2023 to prohibit the use of cages for millions of farmed animals. The ECI was supported by ca 1.4 million citizens across all EU member states.
The legislative proposal was expected to become part of the ongoing revision of the animal welfare legislation under the Farm to Fork Strategy and enter into force in 2027 after a transition period.
The Ombudsman started immediately an analysis of the complaint and opened an inquiry on 20 December. In a letter to the Commission, it writes that it appears that the Commission did not reply to the complainants and asks for a reply by 31 January.
The Commission proposed on 7 December an animal welfare package to improve the rules but if fell short of a more ambitious revision of the outdated legislation. The legislative proposal to prohibit the use of cages for farmed animals was missing in the package. According to the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, it is complex legislation which requires transition periods.
In an op-ed in June last year, Copa and Cogeca, a farming organisation which represents the agri-industry, wrote that it does not oppose the phasing out cages in agriculture “provided that one tells us first which sort of cages and second, discusses the timeframe for transition and the financial support to do so” but did not specify the length of the transition period.
M. Apelblat
The Brussels Times
