A partial leak of the EC’s Work Programme, released in the Brussels media, is missing the long overdue update of the EU’s animal welfare legislation which was concretely planned and promised to be delivered by the end of 2026.
This news comes as the EC continues its public consultation on the modernisation of the legislation, which has already received over 500 responses, and following a call for evidence which was concluded in the past months.
This is contradictory to Commissioner Várhelyi’s repeated commitments to phase out cages, in response to the ECI End the Cage Age, which the EC pledged to act on back in 2021. Commissioner Várhelyi promised that the first proposals will be published by 2026, a position he repeatedly reaffirmed.
The modernisation of EU animal welfare rules has also been marked as an important action in the final report produced by the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of EU Agriculture, now the European Board on Agriculture and Food (EBAF).
Despite these concerning signals, animal protection organisations trust that the revision of the animal welfare legislation is still on the agenda and urge the EC to reaffirm its commitment to legislative action in the 2026 Work Programme. This is crucial to respond to the demands of EU citizens, who have used all tools in their power to ask the EU to do better for animals.
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