Lack of enforcement

And while the revised Pigs Directive attempted to curb “routine tail docking and tooth clipping,” the language banning these practices makes enforcement virtually impossible; thus, such barbarity has continued en masse in top-EU producers; France, Spain, and Germany, where more than 95% of pigs have mutilated tails.

Overall, the 2008 revisions followed an all-too-predictable pattern that has emerged at the EU: the EU imposes some slight limitations of certain cruel practices, with no ban or enforcement, and the agricultural industry grinds along essentially as before, making a mockery of any EU claim to uphold ethical standards of animal welfare.

It is furthermore important to bear in mind that while factory farms have become an entrenched, expanding production model in Europe, the animals being brutalized are some of the most intelligent and sensitive creatures on the planet. Studies have found that pigs, in particular, are among the most cognitively complex animals, capable of symbolic language comprehension and a range of emotions as shown in their play, fear, and stress responses. (Anyone who has seen the critically-acclaimed documentary Gunda [2020] can attest.)

Yet, though the Pigs Directive acknowledges “tail-docking, tooth-clipping and tooth-grinding are likely to cause immediate pain and some prolonged pain to pigs,” the European Commission’s own audit found an overwhelming majority of pigs in the EU experience these practices.

Does not make business sense

In addition to the moral atrocity taking place in factory farms across Europe, such practices increasingly make less business sense.

With the pig meat sector coming to the EU hat in hand, looking for a bailout, Martin Schulz, chairman of the German Peasant Agriculture Association, has confessed to Euractiv that one factor fuelling the punishing downturn in his industry has been the “breeding conditions that consumers do not accept anymore.” Fortunately, this time, the Commission refused to provide special funds to help the sector, questioning market intervention at EU level and noting that “the current market situation is … largely a result of an imbalance between demand and supply.”

Nevertheless, when it comes to reforming the horrific breeding conditions, which involve the painful processes mentioned in the Directive, the EU is actually going in reverse, away from the direction of progress.

In response to younger generations decreasing their pork consumption over concerns about animal welfare and the environment, the EU is using taxpayer money to finance advertisements - what used to be called propaganda - to steer young citizens back into the habit of eating pigs. The ad campaign, “Let's talk about pork,” depicts pristine, upbeat pigs -- in stark contrast to the reality factory farm owners and managers try desperately to keep hidden.