300+ activists urge EU Commission President to deliver long-awaited legislation for farmed animals
Brussels is home to the European Commission and is where the future of hundreds of millions of farmed animals is decided.
That’s why more than 300 activists from across Europe stood outside DG SANTE and the Berlaymont, the European Commission’s headquarters, recently calling on EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, and the responsible Commissioners to deliver on promised animal protection laws.
300 people for animals in Brussels
With chants and placards, hundreds of animal advocates came together to remind von der Leyen and the Commissioners responsible that their promise to animals must be kept. Those promises included a ban on the cruel caging of hens farmed for their eggs and of caging of mother pigs, as well as an end to the killing of day-old male chicks, whose lives the egg industry deems unprofitable since they cannot lay eggs.
We directed our message to the four people with the power to make this happen: President Ursula von der Leyen; Olivér Várhelyi, Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare; Christophe Hansen, Commissioner for Agriculture and Food; and Maroš Šefčovič, Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency.
Our pressure on the Commission has been ongoing since the start of the year, and it helped put animals back on the EU’s legislative agenda when the Commission published its ‘Livestock Strategy’ in July.
But a strategy alone is not enough, so we’ve stepped up the pressure across Europe and returned to Brussels with hundreds of people determined to secure what was promised.
We are asking for a long-overdue promise to finally be kept, and, even then, it is only the bare minimum animals are owed.
Our protests went on for hours in the heart of Europe’s political capital, and left no room for doubt. Outside DG SANTE and the Berlaymont, we chanted:
There’s no excuse for animal abuse. Profit is no excuse for animal abuse. The EU Commission has no excuse for animal abuse.
Work Programme: two years of silence. There won’t be a third
For two years in a row, animals have been left out of the Commission’s Work Programme without a single public explanation. This year, we won’t accept it.
The Work Programme is the document where the Commission sets out its priorities for the year ahead. It decides which issues get resources, staff and political attention, and which are left to stall.
For two years, reforming the laws that better protect animals trapped in farms hasn’t received a single line. That must change, and it must start with an end to cages for mother pigs in the 2027 Work Programme.
“EU: Your Delays, Their Suffering”
In February 2026, we launched our campaign “EU: Your Delays, Their Suffering,” bringing hundreds of people to Brussels with one clear demand: ban cages in farming and end the killing of male chicks. Both are practices condemned by the scientific community, yet animals didn’t earn a single mention in President von der Leyen’s State of the Union address on 16th September.
Our demand is grounded in the End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative, spearheaded by Compassion in World Farming, signed by 1.4 million people, and verified by EU Member States. Five years ago, the Commission formally responded with a commitment to act, then failed to honour both its promise and the deadlines it set itself.
That is why more than 300 of us returned to Brussels from 28th-30th September: to say, once again, that the time for broken promises is over.
With the protests of these past three days, and without ever stopping these past months, we have consistently reminded people exactly where the political responsibility for the future of millions of animals lies. Four people – von der Leyen, Várhelyi, Hansen and Šefčovič – carry the task of not looking away, but of acting to honour citizens’ demands and put an end to both cage farming and the killing of male chicks across Europe. We will not stop until this result is achieved: in the streets and beyond, we will make sure that the European Commission’s official commitments are not betrayed, and that these demands can no longer be ignored.
Matteo Cupi, Vice-President of Animal Equality Europe
The 2027 Work Programme will be adopted in mid-October. Online and on the streets, we are demanding it includes an end to cages for mother pigs, with clear dates and a concrete timeline. It is a crucial step towards the wider reform the Commission must deliver by the end of this year.
After years of waiting, there are only two paths left: deliver this reform, or betray millions of animals and the people of Europe.
While we keep up the pressure in Brussels, you can help animals every day by leaving them off your plate. Discover simple, delicious plant-based recipes with Love Veg.
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.
