Agnew continues to press the European Commission over the battery cage ban

The East of England MEP and farmer, Stuart Agnew has continued with his campaign to get the European Commission to understand the full implications of its decision to ban battery cage produced eggs from 1st January 2012. He has today (15th March) submitted a new raft of written questions to the Commission which highlight the lack of preparation for the ban in most member states and a similar lack of interest on the part of the Commission in monitoring the situation and in preparing to enforce the ban.

Mr Agnew said: It is quite evident that it is business as usual in many of the EU member states. There is virtually no sign of any decrease in the orders for chick replacements destined for battery cage units and, in some cases, they are increasing. If there was any serious intention to meet the deadline for the ban, we ought to be seeing quite significant decreases. I am also seriously concerned about the lack of preparation by the Commission both in terms of monitoring what is going on in the relevant member states and in making plans for the enforcement of the ban. I do not believe that the Commission has ever taken the issue of 83 million eggs per day suddenly becoming illegal on 1st January 2012 at all seriously, despite my regularly raising these issues in the European Parliaments Agriculture Committee and in plenary sessions of the Parliament.

Unfortunately, the Commission prefers the terribly complacent it will be alright on the night approach rather than think about how this vast amount of eggs, together with the birds that produce them are going to be disposed of sensibly and humanely. I believe that countries such as the UK, where there has been extensive preparatory investment in alternative egg production systems, are going to end up being unfairly penalised by having to compete against countries that are still exporting cheaply produced battery eggs.

The full list of Mr Agnews written questions to the European Commission is as follows:

To ask the Commission whether it is aware that the rearers of egg-laying hens across the EU are ordering chick placements in numbers which are similar to or an increase upon last year?

Has the Commission undertaken any work to assess the use of pullets – in the context of the fact that unless alternative systems are available these pullets can only be used to stock battery cages?

What plans does the Commission have to monitor and enforce the battery cage ban which comes into effect on 1 January 2012?

Bearing in mind the 17 month lead times, has the Commission yet begun to draw conclusions about the enforcement of the battery cage ban which comes into effect on 1 January 2012 – and, if not, when will it?