Animals.

From children’s books to misleading marketing, we’re used to believing that animals farmed in Europe enjoy high standards of welfare: they live out their happy lives on small farms with plenty of fresh air, so the story goes. In reality, only a vanishingly small minority do. For the majority of animals raised for food in the EU, health and well-being are nothing but a myth, and the evidence of that reality is overwhelming. Overcrowding and routine mutilations (without painkillers), complete neglect and wanton cruelty are commonplace, as animals’ needs and natural behaviours are suppressed.

Proof of this systemic cruelty and suffering regularly is everywhere, with photojournalists and filmmakers leading the way in dispelling the myths through storytelling – as recently shown by Food for Profit, among other daring exposés, which has enjoyed huge success touring cinemas across Europe.

Europeans agree that animal welfare must be improved. In fact, of the only 10 successful European Citizens’ Initiatives (ECI) (i.e. those gathering over 1 million signatures, fast-tracking EU citizens’ access to EU policymakers), five related directly to animal welfare. The End the Cage Age ECI, submitted in 2020, gathered almost 1.4 million signatures and was the first and only ECI to result in concrete policy commitments from the European Commission – specifically, to phase out the use of individual cages on European farms. Continued inaction on these commitments puts EU democratic legitimacy at serious risk.