In 2021, the European Commission promised to ban cages for laying hens, among other species. Five years and roughly half a billion hens later, that promise still hasn’t left the drawing board. This month, AAFT joined the FLOCKING campaign, a Europe-wide push to make sure the Commission finally delivers on its commitment.
The delay isn’t an accident. Leaked documents show the farming lobby COPA-COGECA vowing to defend caged farming “the same way the tobacco industry did.” It’s working: the Commissioners in charge met meat, poultry and dairy industry representatives 46 times on animal welfare, compared with just seven meetings with animal protection groups. Not exactly a balanced negotiating table.
Meanwhile, nine in ten Europeans want cages gone, and when the Commission ran a public consultation on the issue, 99% of over 190,000 respondents said banning them was important or very important. Over 60% of EU hens are already cage-free, and five countries have banned cages outright, including Germany, Europe’s biggest egg producer.
Time to deliver
The FLOCKING campaign is active across several EU Member States, building public and political pressure on the European Commission to deliver the legislative reform it has promised. Campaigners across Europe are calling for an end to the use of cages for hens and urging the Commission to act on the clear public demand for stronger protection of farmed animals.
The Commission needs to deliver on its commitment and finally put forward legislation to end cages for hens, with a clear and ambitious timeline for their phase-out.
