News article, 31. October 2023

No mention of European animal welfare legislation

In Ursula von der Leyen's 'State of the European Union' speech, there was an absence of the revision of the common European animal welfare legislation.

Photo: Danish Agriculture & Food Council

In Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's 'State of the European Union' speech on September 13, there was a noticeable absence of the long-awaited revision of the common European animal welfare legislation.

The speech focused on the war in Ukraine, responsible use of AI, the general situation of the market and the European economy. As regards food, von der Leyen’s focus was solely on food security and a recognition of European agriculture. The absence of animal welfare in the speech has caused several NGOs to sit up and take note. The big question is what we can expect to see in terms of results from the Commission’s term of office that ends in 2024.

In the wake of von der Leyen’s speech, Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President of the European Commission, was asked to respond to the consultation by members of the European Parliament. They wanted to know where the Commission stands in relation to the long-awaited review of European animal welfare legislation. Šefčovič said that they can expect a proposal on animal transport in December 2023. The rest of the legislation, including production, slaughtering and labelling, was not mentioned.

According to Commission spokesperson, Stefan de Keersmaecker, work on revising common animal welfare legislation remains an important issue for the Commission. In answer to the question of whether the Commission has dropped the long-awaited revision of the legislation, Keersmaecker replied: “No. Animal welfare is an important issue for us, but I can’t be more specific about when it [the review] will be”, reports Denmark’s political news site, Altinget.

Work expected to continue into the next Commission’s term of office
Trine Vig, Senior Adviser, Food & Veterinary Policy, Danish Agriculture & Food Council, believes that we can expect the work to continue but not just yet. "The European animal welfare legislation is of great importance for European agriculture and the future production framework. We don’t expect there to be more legislative work underway other than the already mentioned proposal for animal transport during the current Commission term. However, this does not mean that the work has been abandoned, only that it will not be taken up again until the new Commission takes office in 2024.”