Commission shelves plan to bolster pig welfare rules

Date: 12/10/00

By Renée Cordes

THE European Commission is backtracking on its pledge to come forward with new measures to improve the conditions in which pigs are kept, insisting more work is needed on the cost of implementing the planned changes.

Consumer chief David Byrne promised last month that he would unveil proposals soon to bolster the EU's 1991 law establishing minimum welfare standards for pigs. This includes rules governing pen sizes for different categories of pig, a ban on routine tail-docking and tooth-clipping, and a prohibition on weaning piglets before they are three weeks old.

"The conditions in which pigs are reared must be improved to reflect the need for higher levels of animal welfare," Byrne said after a meeting with campaigners, who claim that millions of pigs are raised in conditions which cause them severe stress and needless suffering.

Byrne promised then that the new proposal would include rules for keeping sows in 'social' groups and giving them enough space to lie down together, a practice which has been shown to reduce aggressive animal behaviour. Other changes foreseen by the Commissioner would ban the routine mutilation of pigs, prohibit tethering (keeping pigs in cages with a collar and chain), and improve the quality of floor surfaces to prevent trotter cuts and other injuries.

But officials say Byrne has now decided to postpone these measures "indefinitely", following a request from Agriculture Commissioner Franz Fischler for a cost-benefit analysis to be carried out first. Sources say this could take several months.

Fischler acted in response to pressure from EU farm lobby group COPA, which has voiced concern that such changes would raise production costs and put pork producers at a competitive disadvantage against foreign rivals. "If you increase the cost you will reduce the competitiveness of the sector," said Costa Golfidis, COPA's head of livestock. "We are not against improving animal welfare conditions, but if this leads to extra costs, then we have to address the problem at international level."

The EU is the world's second biggest pig meat producer after China, but its production costs are higher than in other parts of the world. Animal feed in the Union is, for example, 10-15% more expensive than in the US. The European industry is also just beginning to recover after two years of depressed prices caused by a world-wide boom in production.

But animal welfare campaigners insist that there is no excuse for delaying the reform, especially given the EU's expanded remit to act in this area under the terms of the Amsterdam Treaty. "This is a slap in the face," said Sonya Van Tichelen of the Eurogroup for Animal Welfare. "If this is the result of moving animal welfare out of the Commission's agriculture department, then we are deeply disappointed."

The European Commission is back-tracking on its pledge to come forward with new measures to improve the conditions in which pigs are kept, insisting more work is needed on the cost of implementing the planned changes.