(05 September 2018) – The College of Commissioners has today decided to register a European Citizens’ Initiative entitled ‘End the Cage Age’. The stated objectives of the proposed Citizens’ Initiative are to end “inhumane treatment of farm animals” kept in cages.
The organisers are asking the Commission to propose legislation to prohibit the use of: cages for laying hens, rabbits, pullets, broiler breeders, layer breeders, quail, ducks and geese; farrowing crates for sows; sow stalls and individual calf pens, where not already prohibited.
The Commission’s decision to register the Initiative concerns only the legal admissibility of the proposal. The Commission has not analysed the substance at this stage.
The registration of this Initiative will take place on 11 September 2018, starting a one-year process of collection of signatures of support by its organisers. Should the initiative receive one million statements of support within one year, from at least seven different Member States, the Commission will have to react within three months. The Commission can decide either to follow the request or not, and in both instances would be required to explain its reasoning.