October 11, 2010

EU states not ready to meet cage-ban deadline

France, Spain and Italy, three largest poultry producing EU nations, admitted they will not be able to meet the 2012 deadline for conventional cage ban at a meeting of industry experts in Brussels last week.

The representative from France said that between 20% and 25% of the country's production - upwards of eight million laying birds - will be non-compliant after the date, according to the National Farmers Union (NFU).

"Spain would take four years to be compliant and Italy gave no figure, but said producers would miss the date. Portugal voiced concerns over compliance," reported the NFU.

In some of the southern member states, the hot climate is blamed for the slow pace of change, as producers cannot convert to free-range systems because of heat waves, so must invest in colony cages.

France highlighted bank lending to poultry growers as the main problem, a claim later rebutted by the NFU since France was the only country in the EU not going into recession throughout the credit crunch.

Spain and Portugal both said rural development money was being used to help finance investment in enriched cages.

The NFU has also expressed concern that the EU Commission continues to duck the issue of what it will do about the millions of illegal eggs that will still be coming from hens in conventional cages after the ban on January 1, 2012.

Health commissioner John Dalli continues to insist that compliance with the Welfare of Laying Hens Directive is a matter for each member state and, if illegal eggs are marketed, the Commission may enact infringement proceedings - a process that take several years.