Ukraine must deliver on animal welfare before getting more access to EU market

As trade negotiations will soon start to review the market access provisions included in the EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA), Eurogroup for Animals calls on the EU to oppose granting further market access to Ukrainian animal food products until the country implements EU-equivalent standards.

Read our position paper here.

The EU-Ukraine DCFTA granted significant trade preferences to Ukrainian animal-derived products when it entered into force in 2016, leading to the tripling of Ukraine’s exports of eggs and chicken meat and making the country the first source of EU imports for these products. The increase of Ukrainian chicken meat exports to the EU market largely profited Ukrainian giant poultry producer MHP, which is known for producing in intensive megafarms. The giant also forced the EU into extending trade preferences available for poultry under the DCFTA back in 2019, as a compromise to solve a dispute related to the agreement’s implementation. As the EU does not impose most of its animal welfare standards on imported food, the DCFTA has thus so far stimulated a very unsustainable trade, and thus production.

Ukraine is bound by the agreement to align its animal welfare standards with the EU’s. But the country only adopted a legislation aiming at approximating such standards in February 2021, five years after the DCFTA’s entry into force, and the implementation of this legislation is only foreseen as of 2026. The EU must therefore condition the DCFTA’s market access review to an effective alignment between Ukrainian and EU animal welfare standards. Such an approach would respond to citizens’ concerns regarding the surge in lower welfare imported food. This would also help avoiding that the DCFTA fosters further unsustainable farming in Ukraine and, as an additional positive side effect, it would contribute to improve the level playing field for EU producers. 

On a more positive note, Ukraine being a key player in the agrifood sector worldwide, achieving progress over there could have a positive impact on a huge number of animals. When Ukraine fulfils its DCFTA commitments, the country will be the first EU trade partner to apply EU-equivalent animal welfare standards. In addition, the wording of the DCFTA implies this alignment is dynamic, and once the EU will have revised its animal welfare standards, as expected with the Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F), Ukraine will have to move ahead too.  

At the time when the EU approach to animal welfare is subject to renewed debate, and in light of the objectives contained in the F2F strategy, it is important for the EU to demonstrate it can deliver progress for animals through trade policy. In the case of Ukraine, the review of the DCFTA  can be used to speed up the implementation of higher animal welfare in the country, and this is what Eurogroup for Animals is calling for. 

Read our position paper here.

Regards Mark

WAV Comment – Our recent post – P&G Sleigh Pig Unit in Scotland- Pigs ‘hammered to death’! – World Animals Voice

By now, you probably will have seen our latest investigation into an intensive pig farm called P&G Sleigh pig unit. A lot has happened since we conducted the investigation. Here’s an overview of what unfolded.

• Philip Sleigh, the owner of the farm, resigned as the Chairman of the Pigs Standard Setting Committee of Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), a public body to which he had been appointed as a Board Member by the Scottish Government.
• The farm was dropped by the QMS assurance scheme.
• Our investigation was published in an article in The Times, alongside a leader article titled ‘The Times view on animal welfare failings: Cruel Country’.
• Tesco and Lidl both dropped the farm.
• The Independent, the Scottish Daily Mail, and many more newspapers published articles covering the story, including the front page of Scotland’s most widely-read paper.

What we have achieved so far is huge. After our investigators captured footage of pigs being abused, we made sure people everywhere saw it by securing coverage in some of the UK’s leading newspapers. Scottish actress, Karen Gillan, also shared our investigation on Instagram to her 7.3m followers.

Not only has this led to people all over the country learning about the cruelty behind meat production in the UK, but it has been seen by government officials and company executives: decision-makers who are in a position to create change.

By uncovering ties between the farm and major UK supermarkets, Tesco and Lidl, we have sent another strong and clear message to retailers: if you do business with farms that abuse and exploit animals, you will be found out.

And we have also sent a powerful message to the meat industry itself. Philip Sleigh, who resigned as the Chairman of the Pigs Standard Setting Committee of QMS, is a well-known and influential figure in the UK meat industry. 

Rubbing shoulders with Government officials and accreditation reps, he was entrusted with a position of power, and yet his own farm breached the very standards that he helped set.

With this investigation, we have shown that it doesn’t matter how high up in the industry you are: we will hold you to account. 

While Philip Sleigh (pictured above) has left his position at QMS, the publicly-funded body still has a lot to answer for. It boasts of being proud of its standards, yet it took Animal Equality to uncover these serious breaches on its board member’s farm. How can QMS claim to take animal welfare seriously when its own poster-boy didn’t?

QMS is just one part of an industry which routinely misleads the public and profits from the abuse and exploitation of animals. We need the Government to take action.

ACTION

Please sign the petition at  Investigation: Suffering on Scottish Pig Farm | Animal Equality UK

Regards Mark