Trade talks: too late for EU welfare standards?

As the world trade talks continue over tariffs, barriers and subsidies in agriculture, the issue of animal welfare is only seldom raised.

Farming and animal welfare groups alike take issue with this, saying that for EU standards to be maintained other countries must also adopt standards.

"The reality is people are focusing on tariffs and domestic subsidies ...the talks are going very slowly," says Michael Mann, Commission spokesman on agriculture. "We will push for it [animal welfare] as much as we can but there are 149 countries here to deal with," he says.

He adds that other countries outside the EU will inevitably begin adopting standards on animal welfare as their consumers develop. "For example there is an emerging middle class in China and this is good for standards," says Mann.

Those representing EU farming interests criticise the lack of focus on animal welfare at the talks. They say that standards are higher in the EU and European producers will find it hard to compete if trade barriers come down. "Europe sets high standards and yet it is trying to broker a deal with other countries without raising animal welfare or environmental issues," says Irish centre-right MEP Mairead McGuinness.

"It's a bit late to be trying to raise this issue at the negotiating table now," she says. "There will be a backlash among people whose production base will be squashed."

COPA-COGECA, which represents EU farmers and farm co-operatives, says farmers must be allowed to compete on a level playing field. "There is a need and a wish in society among citizens that they want us to produce in this way but we need there to be consistency," says Roxane Feller, COPA-COGECA's head of unit for animal welfare and animal health.

Feller insists that farmers want to implement the standards but know they cannot compete unless farmers in other countries around the world adopt at least some minimum standards. "Welfare can be seen as a market opportunity. We don't see it as a constraint, a burden or a threat. We're the first ones to administer welfare to our animals," she says.

Eurogroup for Animal Welfare fears that the trade liberalisation agenda of the WTO will dilute standards. "The WTO should exercise caution in promoting any form of liberalisation which encourages the further intensification of agriculture," says a Euro-group report on the talks.

Countries with high standards should be protected, the report adds. "WTO members could be allowed to introduce border measures to offset extra costs imposed on domestic producers - to meet higher animal welfare or other production standards - providing these are transparent and justified."

But animal welfare campaigners also argue that the EU's higher standards can be turned into a marketing strength.

"There's a certain amount you can do through regulations but voluntary labelling is also a way of promoting things. A lot comes down to the entrepreneurial spirit of producers," says Mann.

Encouraging supermarkets and restaurants to support EU produce is another way of ensuring the markets stays buoyant, says Peter Stevenson, chief policy adviser with Compassion in World Farming.

Stevenson points out that fast-food chain McDonalds uses only free-range eggs in the UK and that this is a way of responding to consumer concerns about animal welfare and "taking it seriously".

As the world trade talks continue over tariffs, barriers and subsidies in agriculture, the issue of animal welfare is only seldom raised.