European Greens champion animal welfare legislation. Francisco Guerreiro is a spearhead, study reveals

Brussels, October 13, 2023 - Compassion in World Farming's new report “EU votes for farmed animals” scores MEPs' votes on farmed animals since the beginning of this legislature in 2019. It analyzes 16 important European Parliament votes aimed at improving farm animal welfare. The data revealed that the Greens/EFA group consistently voted in favor of measures to improve animal welfare, 96%, with MEP Francisco Guerreiro supporting 100% of the measures put forward, according to the study.
While the center-right and far-right groups (European Conservatives and Reformists and Identity and Democracy, European People's Party) voted against: 28%, 25% and 23% respectively. PSD and CDS are the worst on the national scorecards.
The analysis is published amid revelations that the EU is backtracking on its commitment to review its animal welfare laws - with millions of citizens waiting for the world's biggest animal welfare revolution, which would free 300 million farmed animals from their cages.

Compassion in World Farming's data-driven analysis shows a clear disconnect between what citizens ask for and how MEPs vote. Although eight out of ten Europeans believe that the welfare of farmed animals should be better protected, this is not reflected in the votes of the elected representatives of European citizens.
Of the 10,265 individual votes analyzed, only four out of ten votes were in favour of greater farm animal welfare during this political term. In some political groups, such as the European People's Party, the situation is dire - only two out of ten European People's Party votes meet citizens' expectations.
On October 12, #Greens4Animals took place in the European Parliament, an event aimed at promoting animal welfare and pressuring the European Commission to update the legislation on this issue (on animal transport, farmed animals as well as the legislation around their slaughter), something that had been promised at the beginning of the mandate, in total five directives and two regulations.

“After decades of calls from civil society to improve the lives of animals through better legislation, the Commission has a duty to present this proposal for revision. The Commission's attitude of ignoring the European Citizens' Initiatives demonstrates how the Commission is captured by the lobbies of the large livestock and agri-food industries,” says Portuguese Green MEP Francisco Guerreiro.
In early September, media reports revealed that the EU is considering abandoning its plans for stricter animal welfare measures, following a coordinated right-wing backlash against the bloc's environmental regulations. Among the new rules being scrapped by the delay is an unprecedented pledge to ban cage farming, made in response to a referendum-like action by 1.4 million citizens - the 'End the Cage Age' European Citizens' Initiative, which Compassion in World Farming coordinated.
In the EU, every year around 300 million farmed animals still spend all or part of their lives in cages, pens or stables, causing great suffering. Laying hens and rabbits, for example, are confined to spaces the size of an A4 sheet of paper. According to data from the UN agency FAO, the EU is also the geopolitical bloc that exports the most animals in the world, with around 1.6 billion animals traded.


See the full report here:

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