A plenary session of the European Parliament has voted to phase out caged farming in the EU by 2027.

The resolution was supported in a vote among MEPs late last week. 558 MEPs backed the motion with only 37 voting against, with 85 abstentions.

All 13 of Ireland’s MEPs opted to support the motion.

As a result of the vote, the parliament will ask the European Commission to come up with legislative proposals to ban caged farming in the EU, possibly by 2027, following an appropriate transition period after a “solid scientific impact assessment” has been carried out.

This is part of a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) called ‘End the Cage Age’ which has attracted close to 1.4 million signatures from across Europe calling for an end to caged farming.

The motion seeks to prohibit the use of (among other things):

  • Cages for hens, pullets, broilers, quail, ducks, geese and rabbits;
  • Farrowing crates for sows;
  • Individual calf pens.

The motion passed by the parliament calls for the gradual end of the use of cages to be based on “a species-by-species approach that would take into account the characteristics of different animals and ensure that they all have housing systems that suit their specific needs”.

It also calls for “adequate advisory and training services; incentives; and financial programmes to avoid farmers losing their competitive edge”.

The MEPs are also looking to prevent the relocation of EU agricultural production to places where animal welfare standards are lower than in the EU.