On 27 February the European Parliament approved the revision of the EU’s long term budget, which includes the so-called Ukraine Facility mechanism. The Facility mechanism - powered with 50 billion EUR - will be the EU’s main instrument providing financial support to Ukraine until 2027. Importantly, animal welfare is recognised as an objective of the Facility mechanism.  

Fostering investments in line with EU animal welfare standards is becoming critical in light of the unconditional and full trade liberalisation between the EU and Ukraine in place since 30 May 2022. This full liberalisation is for now further fuelling intensive animal agriculture in Ukraine with a significant increase of poultry meat and egg imports. Conditioning investments to animal welfare standards has the potential to improve the welfare of millions of animals in Ukraine, ensuring EU citizens’ wishes to protect animals are respected. This will also send the right message to EU producers to accelerate the transition to sustainable methods of production.  

Prioritising animal welfare through the Facility will also ease Ukraine’s accession negotiations to the EU by stimulating a sustainable reconstruction of its agricultural system aiming at an alignment with the EU acquis. Ukraine is a big agricultural producer with a large share of it relating to animal products. Using the financial support of the Facility to help Ukraine transition towards more sustainable agricultural methods of production is the only way forward in order to advance Ukraine’s green recovery.