Orylag rabbits, bred for their furs, in their cages in a French industrial farm in December 2017. -

XAVIER LEOTY / AFP

  • In September 2018, a coalition of 170 European NGOs launched a European citizens' initiative to force the European Commission to rule on cage farming.

    From rabbits to calves, including quails and chickens.

  • This Friday, they deposited nearly 1.4 million signatures to the European Commission when it is enough to gather a million to validate a European citizens' initiative (ECI).

  • Mission successful, therefore.

    The European Commission now has six months to legislate on cage farming.

    In France too, the debate is lively.

The European Union will have to give its official position on cage farming.

In September 2018, a coalition of 170 animal welfare NGOs launched a European citizens' initiative on the subject, a democratic tool established within the EU and which forces the European Commission to legislate on a given subject.

In this case, here, the end of cage farming, symbol and the main pillar of industrial farming, for these NGOs.

The associations are calling for this practice to be stopped in all the farms where it takes place.

Quails, ducks, geese, chickens, rabbits, sows, calves *… Each year, 369 million animals are raised in cages in Europe, of which 85.6 million in France alone, the CIWF reported in a report on farms in cage.

But for a European citizens' initiative (ECI) to be validated, the condition is that at least one million citizens, from at least seven different countries, make the request, by signing a petition.

All within a year, no more.

Nearly 1.4 million signatures filed this Friday

The conditions have been reached and even exceeded, welcomes the CIWF France which coordinated the campaign in France.

Between September 2018 and September 2019, this ICE collected 1.6 million signatures in 18 European countries.

A long process of validation of these signatures by the various national authorities ensued.

"The rules are more or less strict depending on the States," explains Marion Wintergerst, campaign manager at CIWF France.

In France, for example, a signature is only taken into account if the signatory has indicated his identity card or passport number.

"

In the end, there are 1,397,113 participations that this coalition of 170 NGOs has managed to validate, "including a little over 83,000 in France", specifies Marion Wintergerst.

The petition was filed this Friday morning at the headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels.

The rest is known: "The European Commission should normally suggest that we meet in the coming month," continues the CIWF campaign manager.

We can also ask to be heard by the European Parliament in the next three months.

And, in any event, the Commission will have to rule on our request within the next six months.

"

"Sixth ICE to succeed, the third most unifying"

This ICE on the end of cage farming is the sixth to succeed among the 75 initiatives recorded over the past eight years, specifies the CIWF France in a press release.

And the third most unifying in terms of the number of signatures collected.

😳😳😳 1,397,113 European citizens have signed the ECI to ban cage farming in Europe ????


Yes,


1,397,113

😍😍😍

➡️ 6th ICE to reach one million signatures


➡️ 3rd ICE to have collected the most signatures


🙌 # EndTheCageAge pic.twitter.com/tE8tfkRso0

- CIWF France (@CIWF_FR) October 2, 2020

The CIWF sees this as a first sign that populations are increasingly unfavorable to cage farming.

“Countries have also moved a lot in this direction since September 2018 and the launch of our campaign,” notes Marion Wintergerst.

Luxembourg, Germany and Austria have already taken legislative measures to ban cage farming for hens, which is already a first step.

Two weeks ago, the Czech Republic also passed a similar ban which is due to be adopted definitively in the coming days.

Finally, the Greek and Cypriot ministers of agriculture have just voted for the end of cage farming in Europe.

"

A proposal for a shared initiative referendum in France

And France?

“The government is late on these subjects,” regrets CIWF France while noting that the subject is still topical.

A proposal for a shared initiative referendum (RIP) on animal welfare was launched last July.

One of the measures proposed is the ban on cage breeding by 2025. “For this RIP to lead to the organization of a referendum, the first condition is to have the support of 185 parliamentarians , recalls Marion Wintergerst.

So far, 139 have joined the call.

"

At the same time, the bill from deputy EDS (Ecology, democracy, solidarity) Cédric Villani on animal welfare, also includes the ban on cage breeding.

"It was examined this Thursday in the Committee on Economic Affairs and must pass in plenary session next Wednesday," indicates Marion Wintergerst.

But the fear is that it will be emptied of its substance.

"

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* Cage breeding of calves is prohibited in France, but authorized in other European countries.

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