Commission announces plan to end the cage age - quotes from Francisco Guerreiro MEP & Eleonora Evi MEP
Factory farming
The European Commission has announced a legislative proposal by 2023 to end the cage age, of intensive caged farming. The Commission's proposal is in response to the European Citizens' initiative "End the Cage Age," which attracted more than 1.4 million signatories from 18 different member states, and is supported by the Greens/EFA Group.
Francisco Guerreiro, Greens/EFA MEP who supported the initiative, welcomes the Commission's move:
"Today's announcement from Commissioner Stella Kyriakides to deliver a proposal to phase out the use of cages for billions of animals in Europe by the end of 2023 is welcome. However, we will fight to guarantee that the ban would be in effect by 2027 by the latest, and that all types of animal production are included. Today's announcement is a success story for citizen action.
"Cage farming is cruel and unnecessary and it's time to end these practices across the EU. We need to transition to more sustainable forms of agriculture with an end to factory farming and the exploitation of animals and the environment."
Eleonora Evi, Greens/EFA MEP and co-chair of the Animal Welfare Intergroup’s cage-free working group, comments:
"The Commission's pledge to end the cruelty of caged farming represents a historic achievement and a key milestone in the fight for a greater recognition of animal rights as well as a step towards the abolition of the most aberrant intensive farming practices, which cause the suffering of hundreds of millions of animals, forced to spend their lives in confined spaces, unable to perform their most basic natural behaviours"
"Thanks to the extraordinary mobilization of many citizens across Europe and the work of civil society organizations, we have managed to force European institutions not to look the other way, obtaining concrete commitments that will have a real impact on the more than 300 million animals that every year are raised in cages. We will now make sure that the Commission's proposal lives up to our expectations in ensuring a phase-out of the use of cages by, and no later than 2027, and remain committed to counter the attempts of part of the industry and their political mouthpieces to further delay the transition to a more humane agriculture, which finally treats animals as sentient beings."
