The consultation goes hand-in-hand with the Commission’s evaluation on the strategy, which will assess the extent to which it delivered on its objectives, and whether they are relevant and consistent today. It will also look at efficiency and whether the strategy usefully complements national efforts in this field. This has to be done before any new actions are brought forward. 

This evaluation of the Animal Welfare Strategy will inform the actions that come after, so it’s vital that the animal movement contributes its opinion to the consultation with a unified voice, even though we may want to stress different aspects of policy or different priorities.

However, we can all agree on some things. The Animal Welfare Strategy resulted in no demonstrable overall improvement for the welfare of animals. Instead of meaningful progress for animals on the ground, we are left with no ‘foundation’ on which to build, and eight years have passed by in the meantime.

The strategy should serve as a lesson: strategies in themselves don't lead to anything. We need actions, not words, and we hope that this new Commission will deliver real improvements to the lives of animals through the revision of existing legislation as well as the introduction of new law to adequately protect all species.  

You can participate in the consultation here. To help you formulate your responses, Eurogroup for Animals has put together some detailed information to help us all come across with a unified voice and call for legislative changes instead of a new strategy.

We trust that the Commission’s evaluation – and the accompanying consultation – will lead to concrete actions focussed on the improvement of existing legislation, as well as the introduction of new laws to adequately protect other species.