Ursula von der Leyen, it’s time to speak up.
On 16th September, the President of the European Commission tells Europe who and what matters. Millions of animals are waiting to be heard.
On 16th September, Ursula von der Leyen will make her State of the Union address, setting out the European Commission’s priorities for the year ahead.
One sentence would confirm that Europe intends to end the cruel caging of farmed animals. Silence would say the opposite.
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Ursula’s Silence Affects Animals
The State of the Union address is the key moment when the President of the European Commission announces the political priorities for the coming year. Ursula von der Leyen could commit to revising animal welfare regulations and ending the use of cages for pigs, hens, rabbits, and other animals. It’s a goal the Commission has already endorsed and which she has the authority to progress.
It’s time to speak up
Cage-free is not cruelty-free, but it’s an important step closer to the world we all dream of, and it is what more than a million Europeans called for in the End The Cage Age Citizens’ Initiative. The Commission promised to take action, but has done nothing while millions of animals remain trapped behind bars.
Ursula von der Leyen can change this. On 16th September, she can confirm a clear timeline before Parliament, one with no exceptions or further delays.
Her choice is this: she can be the president who spoke up for animals, or the one who abandoned them.
European citizens did everything a democracy asks of them. They organised, they collected over a million verified signatures, they used the tools the European Union itself created – and the Commission told them it would act. Years later, the animals are still in cages. On 16 September, President von der Leyen has one of the most powerful platforms in Europe. Using it to name animals would not be a favour to us; it would be the Commission keeping its word.
Matteo Cupi
Vice President, Animal Equality
Our campaign in Europe
Since February 2026, Animal Equality has mobilised thousands of people across Europe to demand an end to cages and the culling of male chicks, deemed worthless by the egg industry as they cannot lay eggs. We have brought this demand to European institutions using protests, advocacy, and public campaigns.
In July, the Commission reaffirmed its commitment to animal welfare reform in its Livestock Strategy. But this strategy is just a roadmap, with no binding timeline or guarantees against new loopholes.
The animal agriculture industry has direct access to Brussels. Animals do not.
This is not a new request.
This is a commitment that already exists.
2019 -2026
2019
Ursula von der Leyen
becomes President of the European Commission.
2020
The End the Cage Age Citizens’ Initiative is submitted to her Commission.
It has over 1.4 million verified signatures.
2020
Her Commission’s Farm to Fork
Strategy commits to
revising EU animal welfare
legislation.
JunE 2021
Her Commission formally responds to the Citizens’ Initiative.
It commits to proposing, in 2023, a phase-out of cages.
2023
The proposal deadline passes.
Nothing is tabled.
JULY 2024
Von der Leyen is re-elected for a second mandate. The commitment remains undelivered.
2025 – JULY 2026
Still no proposal. Animals remain trapped in cages across the EU.
JULY 2026
Five years later, the Commission publishes its Livestock Strategy.
It commits to releasing, in 2026, a legislative proposal to phase out cages for hens and the killing of male chicks in the egg industry. A similar proposal on the use of farrowing crates for mother pigs is set for 2027.
The Livestock Strategy is a political roadmap, not a law.
16 SEPTEMBER, 2026
State of the Union. The proposal is expected this year. She has the platform to follow through on it.
OCTOBER 2026
The Commission adopts its 2027 Work Programme.
What von der Leyen mentions in September shapes what happens here.
*Images on this page are representative of animals in cages.
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