State of the Union? Ursula von der Leyen can keep a five-year-old promise in two sentences

End the Cage Age protest in Brussels. A citizen’s initiative that collects more than a million signatures, receives a favourable reply, and then goes quiet for five years tells people exactly what their participation was worth (Source: End the Cage Age)

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By Anna Mulà,
Madrid/Brussels
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Before this year’s State of the European Union address on Wednesday (16 September), the EU Commission asked people on social media what they wanted to hear in the speech.

There is already an answer on file.

More than 1.4 million people gave it six years ago through the European Citizens’ Initiative “End the Cage Age” — and they are still waiting for a response they can act on.

This demand has not faded. On the contrary, or far from it: in recent months, thousands have joined protests in Brussels, signed targeted petitions, and backed coordinated animal welfare campaigns — reaffirming just how much EU citizens still care about ending cages in animal farming.

In October 2020, more than 1.4 million verified signatures were submitted to the commission under the European Citizens’ Initiative “End the Cage Age”, organised by Compassion in World Farming and supported by over 170 organisations.

It asked the EU to end the use of cages in farming.

The European Parliament backed it in June 2021, 558 votes to 37. The commission replied that it would bring forward legislation by the end of 2023 to “phase out, and finally prohibit, the use of cage systems”.

Promises not kept

That legislation has still not been tabled. The organisers of the initiative are now before the Court of Justice asking why. The case is pending.

Years of public pressure, and continuous campaigning and advocacy over the last year appear to have worked.

But with one proposal expected by the end of 2026 and another by the second quarter of 2027, according to the Livestock Strategy, the timetable is already tight. Both will still need to go through the legislative process, so every month matters.

But getting the proposals on the table is only the beginning. The real test will be their level of ambition: whether they avoid excessively long and unacceptable transition periods, whether exemptions create loopholes, and whether competitiveness concerns are used to dilute the welfare standards the commission has promised to deliver.

The European Citizens’ Initiative is one of very few instruments of its kind anywhere in the world. Europe built it and Europe should be proud of it.

Initiative ignored

But an instrument that collects more than a million signatures, receives a favourable reply, and then goes quiet for five years tells people exactly what their participation was worth.

At Animal Equality, we have spent those five years making sure it didn't stay quiet through public pressure of our own. The Union spends a great deal of effort arguing abroad that democratic government listens. That argument is easier to make when you can point at something small and finished.

The public position has not shifted since 2020. The commission’s own consultation on this revision closed in December and drew 236,523 valid responses.

We wrote to president Ursula von der Leyen publicly last week in an open letter.

I am writing here because the request has not changed and it is a small one.

On 16 September, say the two things: the phase-out of cages, and the end of the systematic killing of day-old male chicks. Then put them in the Letter of Intent with the quarter you expect them. Two sentences and one line.

President von der Leyen, 1.4 million people used the channel the Union told them to use, and they are still waiting for the answer.

Thousands have spent recent months refusing to let you forget that promise — in the streets, in petitions, in campaigns. You can give most of it on Wednesday, in two sentences, and it costs you nothing you have not already promised.

This stakeholder article is paid for by a third party. All opinions in this article reflect the views of the author and not of EUobserver.

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End the Cage Age protest in Brussels. A citizen's initiative that collects more than a million signatures, receives a favourable reply, and then goes quiet for five years tells people exactly what their participation was worth (Source: End the Cage Age)

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Anna Mulà is Legislative Advocacy Manager at Animal Equality, an international animal protection organisation working in Europe, the Americas and India.

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