No evidence, no explanation: what happened to the European Commission’s promised reform for animals?
An Animal Equality investigation finds no internal records explaining why the European Commission removed its long-promised animal welfare legislation from its 2026 Work Programme, despite years of public commitments.
Five years after the European Commission promised to overhaul the European Union’s animal welfare legislation, one basic question remains unanswered: who decided to abandon the reform, and why?
According to an investigation by Animal Equality based on Freedom of Information requests, the Commission itself has been unable to identify a single internal document explaining why the legislative package was dropped from its 2026 Work Programme.
The finding raises serious questions about how one of the most significant animal welfare commitments ever made by the European Union simply vanished from its legislative agenda.
A promise backed by 1.4 million citizens
In 2021, the European Commission formally committed to proposing legislation to phase out cages across the EU after the success of the End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative, supported by more than 1.4 million people across Europe.
The commitment covered hundreds of millions of animals raised every year in the factory farming industry, including hens, pigs, rabbits and calves.
For several years, the Commission repeatedly reaffirmed that commitment. As recently as March 2025, Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare Olivér Várhelyi told members of the European Parliament’s Animal Welfare Intergroup that a legislative proposal was expected in 2026.
That expectation came to an abrupt halt when the Commission published its 2026 Work Programme in October 2025. The promised legislation was nowhere to be found.
Looking for answers inside the Commission
To understand what had happened, Animal Equality submitted a series of Freedom of Information requests under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, asking for the documents that explained how the decision had been reached.
The request was divided across several parts of the Commission, including DG SANTE, DG AGRI, DG GROW, DG TRADE, the Secretariat-General and the Commissioners’ Cabinets.
The responses revealed a striking picture.
DG SANTE, the department responsible for animal welfare legislation, stated that it does not hold any documents matching the request.
DG GROW also said it held none.
DG TRADE and the Secretariat-General released only correspondence with external stakeholders. None of the material explained how the Commission internally decided to remove the legislation from its Work Programme.
DG AGRI provided just one document: minutes of a meeting between Agriculture Commissioner Christophe Hansen and Eurogroup for Animals. The document had no connection to the decision itself.
The Commissioners’ Cabinets, despite playing a central role in preparing and agreeing the Commission’s Work Programme, did not provide any response so far.
Taken together, the replies leave no visible paper trail explaining why one of the Commission’s flagship animal welfare commitments disappeared.
A decision without a record?
The absence of any briefing note, impact assessment, internal analysis or exchange between Commissioners’ Cabinets is particularly striking given the political significance of the decision.
Removing an entire legislative package from the Commission’s annual Work Programme is not a routine administrative step. It normally involves discussions across multiple departments and ultimately requires political agreement by the College of Commissioners.
Yet none of the services contacted by Animal Equality identified internal documents recording that process.
For the organisation, this raises obvious questions about transparency and accountability inside the European Commission.
Animal Equality requests a formal review
Following the responses, Animal Equality requested a formal review of the Commission’s handling of the Freedom of Information requests.
The organisation argues that the complete absence of internal records casts serious doubt on whether all relevant documents have been identified or whether the searches carried out by the different departments were sufficiently thorough.
The Commission has acknowledged receipt of the review request and has already extended the legal deadline to respond. Following the review request, the Secretariat-General has acknowledged that additional documents within the scope of the request were not identified in its initial search and has opened a new access to documents procedure to examine them.
We demand accountability and transparency, we demand change
Earlier this month, the European Commission’s new Livestock Strategy once again referred to future legislation to phase out cages and end the routine killing of male chicks through in-ovo sexing technologies. However, those commitments remain political declarations rather than binding law, and no legislative proposal has yet been published.
For Animal Equality, the Commission’s inability to explain how or why it abandoned one of its flagship commitments to animals is unacceptable. After years of delays, missed deadlines and broken promises, the continued lack of transparency only deepens concerns about the future of the reform. The millions of animals still confined in cages – and the 1.4 million citizens who demanded change – deserve clear answers and decisive action, not further uncertainty.
As work begins on the Commission’s next annual Work Programme, Animal Equality is calling on the institution to finally honour the commitment it made to 1.4 million members of the public and deliver the reforms that millions of animals exploited in farms have already waited years to see.
Animals have waited long enough
The European Commission’s failure to move forward with this promised reform – and its lack of accountability and transparency over the decision – leaves millions of animals still waiting for protection.
Your voice must be heard where decisions are made
Decisions affecting millions of animals must not be shaped behind closed doors with those who profit from their suffering. Join the call for transparency and urge the European Commission to deliver stronger animal welfare protections. Make sure they hear YOUR voice this time.
This September, join us in Brussels and tell the European Commission: deliver legislation for animals that reflects what the public wants, not what the factory farming industry demands.
save animals, eat plant based
As a consumer, you hold the power to protect animals from the meat industry. Every plant-based meal saves animals from a life of misery in factory farms and slaughterhouses.
