The European Citizens’ Initiative #endthecageage against caged animal farming – after collecting 1,4 million signatures and no response from the Commission – is vindicated in a legal action at the EU Court and relaunched in the UK, with a petition signed by the largest operators in the food industry and retail.
1) #endthecageage, the European Citizens’ Initiative
#endthecageage, it should be remembered, is the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) promoted by Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) to free farm animals from confinement in cages incompatible with animal welfare requirements. (1) Over 1,4 million signatures were validated by the European Commission, in May 2020. (2)
The European Commission has not followed up on the popular initiative, nor has it published the proposal for a systematic reform of EU animal welfare legislation which should have included, consequently, also the ban on cage farming. (3) Nor has it allocated the necessary resources, in the Common Agricultural Policy, to support farmers in this transition.
2) Legal action against the European Commission
Civil society, over the last 4 years, has repeatedly urged the Commission to fulfill its duties. Most recently, in September 2023, with an open letter from Eurogroup for Animals that was signed by hundreds of veterinarians and researchers. Also recalling another European Citizens’ Initiative awaiting feedback, #SavetheBees. (4)
The promoters of the European Citizens’ Initiative #endthecageage – together with the non-profit associations Eurogroup for Animals, Foodwatch International and Animal Equality – have therefore launched legal action against the Commission, in June 2024. The European executive will thus be called to answer for its inaction before the Court of Luxembourg (5,6)
3) #endthecageage, petition in the UK for laying hens
The representatives from some of the UK’s biggest food companies – Co-op and M&S, Waitrose and Morrisons, Greggs and ALDI, Mitchells and Butlers, the Big Table – have signed a petition to the government, to support Compassion in World Farming’s (CIWF) call to phase out cages for laying hens.
‘We have all eliminated the use of cages for laying hens within our supply chain, or have committed to do so by the end of 2025. By that time, over 90% of UK egg production will be cage-free. However, even when UK production is 90% cage-free, around 4 million laying hens will still be confined in cages each year.
In order for the UK to be 100% cage free for laying hens and to ensure equal conditions for the sale and production of eggs, we urge you to start taking the necessary measures to gradually eliminate the use of eggs from caged systems from domestic production and to ensure that this ban is accompanied by a general ban on the sale of eggs produced by caged animals, regardless of their origin.
4) Animal welfare, absolute paralysis
The signatories of the above document – which in turn follows a public petition, registered in Parliament with 109.820 signatures (7) – lament the absolute paralysis of the policy on animal welfare:
-in the EU, where the Commission had formally committed, already in 2011, to adopt a proposal for a structural revision of the current rules by 2023; (8)
-in the UK, where the then Minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Victoria Prentis had promised to launch a consultation on cages for laying hens as soon as possible. Only to do nothing.
5) Welfare of laying hens, EFSA opinion (2023)
European Food Safety Authority, in its opinion on the welfare of laying hens (EFSA, 2023), stressed that:
-in 2021, approximately 376 million laying hens were raised for 6,4 million tonnes of eggs;
-the well-being of laying hens is influenced above all by the space available for each animal and the constraint of being housed in cages;
-stress, frustration, fear and pain are the most common consequences of the aforementioned constraints, to which are added injuries to the animals;
-the elimination of cages mitigates most of the risks listed. And the density of the farms should be reduced to no more than 4 animals per m² (9,10).
6) Chickens in cages, European scenario
The UK prides itself on having high standards of animal welfare. And although 80% of its eggs come from cage-free systems, the remaining 20% are provided each year by 8 million hens in cages, with little more space than an A4 sheet of paper.
Some European countries are further ahead, but there’s still a long way to go:
-Luxembourg. Cages eliminated since 2015;
-France. Ban on the installation of new cage systems, in 2018;
-Austria. Cages eliminated in 2020;
-Germany. Decommissioning to be completed by 2026;
-Czech Republic. Ban planned by 2027;
-Denmark. Abolition from 2023, with 12 years of transition for 7 farms;
-Slovakia. Eliminate cages by 2030, with direct aid for the transition.
In Italy Coop Italia stood out, being the first to exclude the sale of all eggs (even third-party brands) from caged hens starting in 2010. (11) However, cage-free egg production is still only 40%, according to CIFW Italia.
Until when?
Dario Dongo
Footnotes
(1) Dario Dongo, Giulia Torre. Stop cages, EU citizens’ initiative. FT (Food Times). September 12, 2018
(2) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. End the Cage Age, 1.4 million signatures delivered to European Commission. FT (Food Times). October 6, 2020
(3) Dario Dongo, Marina De Nobili. Animal welfare, ad majora. The role of the ConsumActors. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 10.7.20
(4)Dario Dongo. Animal welfare, civil society’s open letter to the European Commission. FT (Food Times). September 11, 2023
(5) NGOs join landmark End the Cage Age legal case. CIWF. 27.6.24 https://tinyurl.com/mr3wfcvf
(6) End the Cage Age – questions and answers. Foodwatch. 1.7.24 https://tinyurl.com/ms7ynh73
(7) End the Cage Age for all farmed animals. Petition submitted to the UK Parliament 2019-2024 https://tinyurl.com/4rfnc8ps
(8) Marta Strinati, Dario Dongo. Animal welfare, start of public consultation to amend EU regulations. FT (Food Times). October 20, 2021
(9) EFSA Panel on Animal Health and Animal Welfare (AHAW). SS Nielsen et al. Welfare of laying hens on farm. EFSA Journal 2023;21(2):7789. 21.2.2023 Doi: https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2023.7789
(10) Alessandra Mei. Welfare of chickens and laying hens, new EFSA opinions. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 18.3.23
(11) Marta Strinati. Eggs from caged hens, even Conad says enough. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
