foodwatch excluded from “End the Cage Age” court case

On the initiative of Compassion in World Farming, a successful citizens' initiative was submitted to end the confinement of farm animals in the EU. In response, the European Commission promised to bring forward legislative proposals by the end of 2023 to end the use of all cages in European livestock farming. However, it has not fulfilled this promise. The initiators of the Citizens' Initiative, which was supported by 1.4 million EU citizens, then took the case to the European Court of Justice. They demanded that the Commission set a date by which it would present these proposals and make public the documents relating to this citizens' initiative

In June 2024, foodwatch applied to the European Court of Justice to become a so-called intervener in the case, bringing in the consumer perspective. We wanted to show that animal welfare is an issue for everyone in the EU, not just animal rights activists.

foodwatch accepts court setback to speed up cage ban decision

But while some major animal welfare organisations, including Eurogroup for Animals, were allowed to intervene in the case, others, including foodwatch, were not. According to the court, their activities were not sufficiently related to the subject matter of the "End the Cage Age - Stop the Cages" citizens' initiative.

Although we are deeply disappointed by the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union, foodwatch has decided not to appeal against the Court's decision, as this would prolong the case. We need a timely decision from the Court to put an end to the suffering.

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