Photo by Jinen Shah on Unsplash
A campaign group says that MEPs “from centre-right and right-wing groups” have “consistently vote against measures to improve the welfare of farmed animals.”
This is according to a new study of over 10,000 datapoints published on 13 October by Compassion in World Farming.
The NGO slammed this “as a coordinated attack by political leaders and big agroindustry lobbies to thwart animal welfare reform.”
Compassion in World Farming’s new report “EU votes for farmed animals” seeks to “score” deputies’ votes on farmed animals since the beginning of this Parliamentary term in 2019. It says it reviewed 16 key European Parliament votes aimed at improving the welfare of farmed animals.
The NGO claims, “The data revealed that green and left-wing groups vote consistently in support of measures to improve animal welfare, while the centre-right and right-wing groups vote against.”
The analysis is published amid concern by the group that the EU may backtrack on its commitment to revise its animal welfare laws “that would free 300 million farmed animals from cages.”
Olga Kikou, Head of Compassion in World Farming EU and substitute representative of the ‘End the Cage Age’ European Citizens’ Initiative, said “Even though some politicians have defied the party line, over the past few years we have witnessed a coordinated attack to thwart the world’s most ambitious animal welfare reform, orchestrated by the factory farming lobbies and spearheaded by certain political groups in the European Parliament. They are now thwarting the world’s most comprehensive farm animal welfare reform to date. However, Europeans will not accept defeat, and neither will we. Our work will continue to represent the 1.4 million citizens who voted to End the Cage Age.”
She added: “The farming lobbies have managed to convince certain political groups to present themselves as speaking for farmers ahead of the 2024 European elections. These groups, however, push for keeping the status quo, which does not help farmers prepare for the future and address the sustainability challenges they face in the 21st century. Citizens care deeply about animals.”
“Next year’s elections can turn out to be yet another protest vote, fuelling anti-EU voices.”
The NGO said, “Our data-driven analysis shows a clear disconnect between what citizens ask for and how MEPs vote. While 8 out of 10 Europeans believe that the welfare of farmed animals should be better protected, this is not reflected in the votes of the elected representatives of the European citizens.
“Out of the 10,265 individual votes analysed, only four out of ten votes were for higher welfare of farmed animals during this political term.”
