The European Commission has finally placed back on the agenda the comprehensive reform of legislation aimed at safeguarding animal welfare. The nearly 700 comments received during the consultation, which ended on 15 July 2025, confirm the picture that has solidified over years of delay.
While NGOs and citizens continue to call for higher animal welfare standards (with some radical positions, such as a total ban on intensive farming), farmers and the industry are demanding caution.
The production sector is asking for scientific evidence to support the reform’s goals, along with specific impact assessments for each proposed measure. The key concern is that changes must be economically viable if European farms are to withstand pressure from non-EU competitors.
The missed opportunity of von der Leyen
In the previous legislature, Ursula von der Leyen, already President of the European Commission, had promised to renew animal welfare legislation before the end of her term.
In 2021, in response to the End the Cage Age citizens’ initiative, the Commission announced its intention to propose legislation that would gradually phase out and eventually ban the use of cages for certain species and categories of animals (laying hens, pigs, calves, pullets, breeding chickens, rabbits, ducks, geese, and quails).
The European Commission introduced the recently concluded public consultation by stating that “the 2022 review of EU animal welfare legislation found it no longer fit for purpose. The legislation is no longer in line with current social and ethical expectations”.
Animal Welfare Regulation, main contents
The reform project covers several hotly debated issues:
- Phasing out cages and confinement systems for animals. With this aim, the European citizens’ initiative ‘End the Cage Age’ has collected over 1.4 million signatures. Confinement still affects laying hens, pigs, calves, pullets, meat chickens, breeding hens, rabbits, ducks, geese, and quails;
- Banning the culling of day-old male chicks, who are still ground alive because they’re considered uneconomical. This also affects male ducklings and is only banned in France and Germany. Some retailers, such as Coop Italia, have taken voluntary counteractions since 2019;
- Monitoring animal welfare in EU farms through digital tools, specifically in poultry, pig, cattle, and rabbit farming;
- Extending EU welfare standards to animal products imported from outside the EU, which current legislation (five EU directives) does not address.
Farmers’ concerns
The consultation responses reveal unease among farmers, as well as inexplicable regulatory inconsistencies within the EU.
Welfare vs Health
Freeing animals from cages may be an emotional need, but not necessarily in the animals’ best interest, many farmers argue.
Germany’s ADT (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Tierzüchter) warns that new welfare rules could harm animal health. Examples include tail docking to prevent injuries from biting and confinement to limit exposure to pathogens, thereby protecting the development of young animals’ immune systems. These practices are grounded in farmers’ experience, and scientific reviews are being requested to challenge them. Cages and confinement are also deemed necessary:
- To protect sows around farrowing and prevent piglets from being crushed,
- To allow individual breeding for research purposes, which otherwise might shift to facilities outside the EU.
Moreover, farmers stress that any change must include a transition period of 10–15 years, not five.
Economic sustainability
Economic sustainability is a central concern. ADT insists that reforms must be supported by multi-sector scientific evidence, beyond the EFSA’s opinions, as the Authority does not assess environmental, economic, or social impacts.
Bauernbund, the largest agricultural organisation in Flanders and German-speaking Belgium, opposes stricter mandatory standards without a plan to compensate farmers for increased costs or reimbursement for those who have already made private investments.
Bauernbund adds that consumers must also be supported in facing the inevitable price increases due to the lower meat supply.
According to Copa-Cogeca, retrofitting a farm can cost €40–60 per hen. Without state aid (tax breaks and CAP funding), small farms risk going under.
The threat from non-EU markets
The Commission’s intention to extend the new welfare standards to non-EU food imports is seen as obvious; however, several consultation comments highlight the difficulties in ensuring compliance with the law.
EU farmers’ representatives fear strategic delocalisation of production and disruption to the global market, due to massive imports of low-cost meat from third countries. For example, large livestock holdings might relocate to Ukraine. Relying on consumers’ ethics is naive. Except in virtuous cases like France, the origin of meat served in restaurants and throughout the Horeca channel (hotels, catering, etc.) is unknown and very often subject to the logic of minimum cost and maximum profit.
Poland’s National Poultry Council point out that, before the reform, it urge to:
- Impose identical rules on all animals and products, including imports, covering all stages: farming, processing, slaughtering;
- Incorporate these rules into trade agreements with non-EU partners, arranging transparent enforcement mechanisms;
- Extend mandatory origin labelling to processed meat products and meals served in restaurants, so that consumers can make informed choices.
A two-speed Europe on animal welfare
Another common concern raised by farmers is the uneven enforcement of welfare rules across the EU. In Germany, animal welfare officers focus on prevention, education, and advice. They’re known as “the political voice of non-human animals”. No surprise then that Germany’s Heidemark Group, Europe’s leading turkey breeders, is calling for legal harmonisation across the EU before introducing new binding rules. Germany’s poultry industry has long campaigned for uniform, binding EU rules on turkey farming. Moreover, the application of the 2007/43/EC Directive on broilers, particularly regarding maximum stocking densities, is often inconsistent and varies significantly across Member States, thereby distorting competition.
Monitoring animal welfare in EU farms
The proposed plan for the monitoring system received limited support from farmers. However, some Member States are already ahead. In Germany, since 2014, collecting and assessing animal welfare indicators has been legally mandatory under the Animal Welfare Act. Data is stored in a private central database, the proQS system (Qualität und Sicherheit GmbH), offering feedback and guidance to farmers in collaboration with their veterinarians.
In France, the EBENE app, developed in cooperation with the Technical Institute of Poultry (ITAVI), is already in use. Accessible via smartphone, this digital tool helps poultry farmers anonymously assess their animals’ welfare across four areas: feeding, environment, health, and behaviour.
Such monitoring systems are currently being proposed as standard models for EU-wide adoption, with a strong preference for anonymous data collection.
Civil society’s demands
According to the 2023 Eurobarometer survey, European consumers support improved animal welfare on farms, including:
- Strong backing for a cage ban (especially among young and urban consumers);
- Willingness to pay more for cage-free products (though not everyone can afford it);
- Criticism of double standards on imports;
- Calls for clear labelling (e.g. “cage-reared” vs “free-range”).
The position of animal welfare and environmental activists
NGOs advocating for animal and environmental rights expressed their critiques, setting out several strong demands:
- Ban cages (for laying hens, sows, rabbits, calves) and transition to cage-free systems;
- Lower stocking densities in intensive farms, ensuring more space per animal;
- Improve transport conditions (stricter duration limits; ban on live animal exports outside the EU). Worth noting the reflection by Philip Lymbery, CEO of Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), with the eloquent title “One hundred years of refrigeration. So why are animals still exported alive?”.
- Ban slaughter without stunning, as already implemented in Flanders and validated by the EU Court of Justice in 2020.
- Stricter welfare standards for broiler chickens, including the reduction of fast-growing breeds.
- Greater attention to fish welfare in aquaculture, where standards still vary widely (e.g. seabream, seabass, and salmon).
- More effective controls and stricter sanctions for non-compliance.
Moreover, some NGOs advocate for a shift toward more plant-based diets, therefore reducing meat consumption.
Marta Strinati
Cover art copyright © 2025 Dario Dongo (AI-assisted creation)
References
- European Commission. On-farm animal welfare for certain animals: modernisation of EU legislation. July 2025
- Philip Lymbery. One hundred years of refrigeration. So why are animals still exported live? Compassion in World Farming (CIWF). 17.6.25
- Rappresentanza in Italia della Commissione europea. L’Eurobarometro evidenzia quanto sia importante il benessere degli animali per gli europei. 19.10.23
Professional journalist since January 1995, he has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and periodicals (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). She is the author of journalistic surveys on food, she has published the book "Reading labels to know what we eat".
