European Commission’s Executive Vice-President (EVP) Maroš Šefčovič, nominated to oversee the Green Deal, has confirmed that the European Commission intends to deliver the proposal on the protection of animals during transport by December 2023. Yet, he failed to provide clarity on the timeline for the other three regulations, namely Kept Animals, Slaughter and Labelling.

During yesterday’s hearing at the European Parliament, Šefčovič repeated that the animal welfare proposals remain a priority for the upcoming months, but when questioned by a number of MEPs from several groups, he commented that the work on the full legislation requires more assessment and dialogues, despite the fact that numerous consultations and dialogues have already taken place under the EU Platform on Animal Welfare.

Delivering only one of the four proposals will not meet the millions of citizens' demands for better animal welfare. The latest ECIs End the Cage Age and Fur Free Europe, which collected 1.4 and 1.5 million signatures respectively, show that Europeans demand better protection for animals now.  Following the ECI End the Cage Age, the EC committed to ban cages in animal farming as part of the Kept Animals Regulation to be adopted in Q3 2023. 

Only updating the live transport rules will leave billions of animals at the mercy of outdated legislation, or without any welfare-related legislation. Numerous EFSA opinions have demonstrated the urgent need to update the existing rules.