Brief aan Ursula von der Leyen

President von der Leyen European Commission Rue de la Loi 200 B-1049 Brussels

Brussels, 27 June 2024

Dear President von der Leyen,

Improving animal welfare in the EU is very important for a majority of Europeans1, as 84% of Europeans believe that the welfare of farmed animals should be better protected.

The beginning of this term of the European Parliament and the change of the College of Commissioners offers a unique opportunity to show EU citizens that their institutions care for animal welfare as much as they do, by guaranteeing that this topic will be constantly given adequate attention in the elaboration and enforcement of the relevant EU legislation and policies.

This can and should be achieved by explicitly mentioning Animal Welfare in the name of the relevant Directorate-General and the job title of the competent EU Commissioner. In the existing context, the Commissioner’s responsibility would become “Health, Food Safety and Animal Welfare”.

Over the years, developments on animal welfare have always relied on the good will of specific Commissioners, MEPs and governments, based on the demands of EU citizens. Assigning explicit responsibility for animal welfare to the competent Commissioner, and ensuring that adequate resources are allocated to it in the Commission, would further improve animal welfare in the EU.

Despite the fact that the 2019-2024 Commission expressed a more concrete commitment on animal welfare, this responsibility was attributed to a single Unit of DG SANTE, under Directorate G on ‘Crisis Preparedness in Food, Animals, and Plants’. This resulted into a lack of clarity on roles, accountability, and resources to support the enforcement of existing animal welfare legislation and the introduction of necessary new legislation. It unfortunately also led to an insufficient promotion of equivalent animal welfare standards in third countries.

We have a unique opportunity to greatly improve the welfare of animals in Europe and worldwide, but also reward the European farmers who try to do their best to adopt and use science-based better practices that are more compatible with both animal welfare and consumer demands.

The proposal to make the responsibility for animal welfare explicit in the name of the relevant Directorate-General and the job title of the competent EU Commissioner, has already received impressive support in the European Parliament and in society:

- 208 MEPs from all political groups and Member States elected in the 2019-2024 term of the European Parliament joined this appeal, and already over 80 MEPs elected in the 2024-2029 term have done so2.

- 309,897 citizens signed the #EUforAnimals petition that supported this request.

- A survey conducted in June 2024 by the international market research company Ipsos, shows that 70% Europeans, with percentages going from 59% in Hungary to 82% in Sweden, agree that the time has come for this proposal to be implemented with the new EU Commission.

- One of the recommendations of the ANIT committee in the European Parliament stated ‘that a clearer and more explicit responsibility for animal welfare in the EU institutions would be of great importance to improve the enforcement of existing legislation on animal welfare, the identification of relevant gaps, and the elaboration of proposals needed to provide effective responses when necessary;’ and called for the ‘responsibility for animal welfare to be made explicit in the title of the relevant EU Commissioner and the name of the relevant Commission Directorate-General in order to reflect the significance of this issue for European citizens and ensure that enough political attention is accorded to it’. - Given the significance of this proposal, the Committee on Petitions decided to ask the European Commission to provide further and updated information on the various aspects of the issue raised in the #EUforAnimals petition (No 1091/2023). The European Parliaments’ Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals stated that they ‘strongly support this proposal, and support the petitioners’ demand that later this year, in the next Commission, we can finally see an EU Commissioner for “Health, Food Safety and Animal Welfare”’.
- A round table about this proposal, presented by the Belgian organisation GAIA and organised by The Brussels Times in June 2023 with cross-party MEPs, had over 300,000 viewings. This was one of the most watched events organised by The Brussels Times ever.
Therefore, we, recently (re-)elected Members of the European Parliament, call on you or your successor, to explicitly mention Animal Welfare in the job title of the competent Commissioner for health and food safety in the new term.

We are looking forward to your reply and to working together with the new EU Commissioner for Health, Food Safety and Animal Welfare.
Kind regards,

Anja Hazekamp (The Left, Netherlands)
Niels Fuglsang (S&D, Denmark)