It was 2018 when End the Cage Age was launched, the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) promoted by Ciwf to call on the European Union to put an end to the use of every type of cage for animals farmed for food. Four years have passed since that moment — years that have seen important milestones for the more than 300 million animals still kept in cages across the Union: the initiative concluded with a historic result, with the petition gathering more than 1.4 million validated signatures from European citizens calling for the end of the cage age. In response to this Initiative, the European Commission committed to proposing legislation by 2023 to eliminate the use of cages in farming, but the battle is not yet over.

Caged animals on farms: what Italy can do

Now is the time to turn promises into action, and to do so it is essential that the Italian government plays its part: the future we want in Europe for all animals is a future without bars — the European Union, with the decisive support of the Italian government, can be a trailblazer in the transition towards cage-free farming. This is what we reiterated at the event "Senza gabbie è possibile", which we organised together with the other organisations in the End the Cage Age coalition at the Italian seat of the European Parliament in Rome, an event attended by institutional representatives and animal health experts.

In our country there is still no national legislation governing the use of cages in farming, and as always it is the animals that pay the highest price, condemned to lives of pain and frustration, locked in cages where they can barely move. The cruelty of cages is now acknowledged by citizens across the board: consider that according to a recent survey conducted by YouGov, 84 per cent of Italian citizens believe that the use of cages is cruel towards animals, yet despite the clear will of the Italian public, the new Budget Law does not allocate a single euro towards a transition to cage-free farming.

An unacceptable choice that Animal Equality has condemned alongside the other organisations in the coalition, with whom we have called on government representatives to allocate adequate resources in the Budget Law to support the transition to cage-free farming systems, thereby responding to citizens and consumers. Beginning to free animals from this cruel and outdated practice is a vital first step; the Italian government can and must make a difference by driving a change of course at national level — citizens are calling for it, organisations are calling for it, and animals are calling for it.