The Farm-to-Fork strategy called on the EU to use its trade policy to not only “enhance cooperation with” but also to “obtain ambitious commitments from third countries in key areas such as animal welfare”. This is what the EU should do, no less. 

However, the Trade Policy Review falls short of such objectives Indeed, the review does not address the impacts of trade on animal welfare, and, hence, misses the opportunity to adapt EU trade policy to the challenges of our times, such as the spread of zoonoses, climate change and antimicrobial resistance. 

The EU-Mercosur agreement, which is also high on the agenda, exemplifies the shortcomings of the current EU trade policy. As it stands now, the agreement is a bad deal for animals, nature and people. The text grants more market access for animal products without any condition related to animal welfare or sustainability, and it will further fuel the intensification of animal farming, both in the EU (dairy and pig meat) and in Mercosur countries (beef, chicken). In addition, the cooperation mechanisms put in place on animal welfare and on Trade and Sustainable Development are weak. They cannot be enforced in the absence of political willingness or resources.

In that context, Eurogroup for Animals calls on the EU to uphold the objectives of the Farm to Fork Strategy, and to negotiate the adoption by Mercosur countries of EU-equivalent legal standards in key sectors (cattle, broiler chicken, laying hens), as well as in terms of transport, or to agree on animal welfare and sustainability-based conditions required to access tariff-rate quotas or liberalisation in animal products, including the respect of EU-equivalent animal welfare standards. Concerns raised by the civil society, and now supported by the European Parliament and various Member States, cannot be solved by simply adding a protocol to the agreement.