Animal welfare organisations demonstrated in Brussels on Thursday against the lack of sufficient progress during the Cyprus EU Presidency in updating EU’s legislation on live animal transport.
Eurogroup for Animals has initiated an open letter calling on members of the European Parliament to prioritise key animal welfare measures as they update the EU’s live transport regulation. The public is invited to sign the letter.
According to the letter, the EU finds itself in in a historic moment for transported animals. The political decisions that are made now regarding the update to the Transport Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 will make or break their welfare in this sector.
The letter states that the latest science on animal welfare, as evidenced by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), shows that more robust standards are needed to protect the well-being of transported animals. Currently, animals endure:
- Journeys by land and sea that last for up to weeks, which is often injurious to their physical and mental health;
- Travel in extreme temperatures, which puts their bodies under great strain, and can even prove fatal;
- Transport when they are in a vulnerable state (e.g. when they are very young, pregnant or at the end of their production cycle), which makes them more susceptible to the stressors associated with transport;
- Transport to countries outside the EU, including active conflict zones, makes it almost impossible to safeguard their welfare.
At the beginning of 2026, the NGOs sent letters to the European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, Olivér Várhelyi, as no progress had been made by then in revising the animal welfare legislation. The European Commission presented a proposal in December 2023 to revise the legislation on live animal transport.
According to the Cyprus EU Presidency, progress was made at a Working Party meeting last February, chaired by the Presidency.
However, asked if any agreement had been achieved towards the end of the Presidency, a diplomatic source admitted that the revised animal transport legislation was not fully agreed upon during the Cyprus Presidency despite important work on animal welfare standards, transport conditions, and more proportionate implementation rules.
The legislative process, therefore, continues beyond the Cyprus Presidency – that is, during Ireland’s EU Presidency, which takes over the rotating EU Presidency on 1 July.
“Animal transport remains one of the most significant unresolved animal welfare issues in EU law – 45 years later, we are still here, with animals subjected to excessively long journeys, including young and vulnerable animals,” commented Reineke Hameleers, CEO, Eurogroup for Animals. “
“They are treated as commodities, as if their welfare were disposable. The European Parliament is meant to represent the will of citizens, not the interests of industry. Yet too often, we are seeing the opposite. We call on a number of MEPs who are blocking progress for animals to change their position and be held accountable to responding to the demands of citizens.”
