Animal welfare is an explicit objective of policy at EU level. The EU’s founding treaties, that set out its constitutional basis, specifically article 13 of the treaty on the functioning of the EU, states that the EU “has to pay full regard to animal welfare, as animals are sentient beings when it formulates and implements its agriculture, fisheries, internal market, research, and other policies”. 

As a result, over the years the EU has developed a multitude of rules concerning animal welfare. The institutions involved in the lawmaking process are: the European Commission, the Council of the EU, and the European Parliament. The 705 directly elected members of Parliament thus play a key role in the development of EU rules, which means that the more animal welfare supportive MEPs are elected, the stronger the Parliament’s support will be for measures and new rules that try to improve animal welfare. 

After the election of a new parliament, all existing legislation regarding animals will remain as it is because a new parliament does not automatically mean that changes will occur. The new parliament can and will only work on the animal welfare legislations that are currently already under development, and on any proposals for new legislation or for revision of existing legislation, if and when they are proposed by the new European Commission during the next legislative term. 

After the European elections not only a new Parliament, but also a new European Commission comes into place. It will be up to this Commission to decide what happens to the revision of the legislation that was anticipated, but not brought forward in the previous term. As for the legislative proposals that are already on the table, the new Commission could decide to revoke them. 

However, the chances of this happening after the 2024 elections are relatively small, as the next Commission is very likely to be a Von Der Leyen 2.0 Commission, meaning that they will largely continue the previous work. If the proposals are not scrapped, the new EU parliament will continue to work on them. 

No. EU decisions on animal welfare can both directly and indirectly have effects beyond the EU borders. The EU has many trade agreements with countries outside of the Union. Within those agreements, ‘mirror clauses’ are often adopted. Such clauses require products coming into the Union to adhere to the same standards as those set for the same products produced within the EU. Mirror clauses can directly affect animal welfare outside the EU when they are implemented regarding animal products, requiring for example that imported meat or dairy products have been produced with the same animal welfare standards as those within the EU. 

Additionally, EU decisions can also indirectly affect animal welfare outside of the Union through the ‘Brussels effect’. This means that the market size and importance of the European Union often results in international companies outside the EU implementing the same standards as those within the Union, as this becomes economically, legally and technically more practical for them. 

For animal welfare to progress as much as possible within the next years, we need EU institutions that care about this topic. Regarding the EU Parliament, this means the more MEPS who care about animal welfare the better. To start with, you can get informed about which candidates are supporting animal welfare: by not only checking which candidates have signed the animal welfare pledge, but also by reading through the manifestos of political parties that could mention animal welfare as a priority. It is then a matter of voting for these candidates during the elections.  

Post-elections, you can keep helping animals by maintaining pressure on elected MEPs, for example through email actions, petitions and events organised by FOUR PAWS.