In a parliamentary question tabled on 10 March, some 60 MEPs from all political backgrounds call on the European Commission to propose a ban on the killing of day-old chicks in the egg sector and the killing of day-old female ducklings in the foie gras industry in the autumn.
The Commission is due to present a proposal for a revision of the rules on farm animal welfare later this year.
The MEPs in question, including Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP, Finnish), Günther Sidl (S&D, Austrian) and Thomas Waitz (Greens/EFA, German), estimate that “330 million chicks and millions of day-old female ducklings are gassed or crushed to death in the EU every year”.
At the Agriculture Council in October 2022, France and Germany, supported by Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg and Portugal, called for an EU-wide ban on the systematic killing of male chicks (see EUROPE 13044/4).
Link to the oral question: https://aeur.eu/f/5so (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)