President listening to Big Agri lobby

“We very much welcome the publication of the latest official EU poll on animal welfare, as it shows what is common knowledge – Europeans care deeply about animals and nine out of ten Europeans support a ban on cages," said Olga Kikou, Head of Compassion in World Farming EU and substitute representative of the ‘End the Cage Age’ European Citizens’ Initiative.

“Whilst the Commission made promises to the 1.4 million citizens who supported the ECI, President von der Leyen appears to be listening to the big agriculture lobby rather than delivering the wishes of millions of EU citizens," Olga added. "We believe the landmark proposal to ban cages is drafted and ready to go and there is no good reason for any further delay.”

No more suffering

The Eurobarometer conducted 26,376 interviews in all EU countries between 2 and 26 March 2023. It found that more than eight out of ten respondents (84%) want the welfare of farmed animals to be better protected and the EU needs to end mutilations (89%). More than half (60%) were also willing to pay more for welfare-friendly products. Overall, the attitude of Europeans continues its shift towards demanding higher protection for EU animals, which is clear from comparison with the previous polling on the topic that took place 7 years ago.

In the EU, every year about 300 million farmed animals still spend all or part of their lives in cages, pens or stalls, causing great suffering. Laying hens and rabbits, for example, are confined to spaces about the size of an A4 sheet of paper. Adult female pigs have to spend nearly half of every year inside crates, in which they cannot even turn around.