Ukraine’s EU accession provides chance to transform animal welfare and rebuild agriculture

27 Jun 2024 --- Accession negotiations between the EU and Ukraine, which begin this week, are a chance to elevate the country’s animal welfare standards, says a leading animal protection group.

Lobby group Eurogroup for Animals has expressed concerns that animal welfare standards in Ukraine fall below EU levels and don’t align with EU member states. It describes the accession talks as an opportunity for the country to match those of its potential EU counterparts. The group says that in 2023, millions of animals were farmed and slaughtered in the country, of which 712 million were poultry.

Ukraine has substantial livestock agriculture, with it being the second largest egg producer after France. It has the fourth largest poultry sector, with agricultural products accounting for 41% of the country’s exports, according to numbers from the European Parliament.

It also accounts for around a third of the world’s most fertile land, with three crops dominating Ukraine’s agricultural production: wheat, maize and sunflower, all primarily intended for export.

Aligning with member states
Eurogroup for Animals urges the EU to proactively tackle issues such as cage-free farming. It hopes this will allow producers to make future-proof investments and avoid additional charges and costs in the coming years.

The group also calls on the EU to provide details on its upcoming animal welfare legislation and use the negotiations to rethink its farming policies, particularly in areas such as ensuring funds are not supporting “unsustainable farming practices.”

“We welcome the start of negotiations with Ukraine to join the EU, and hope that the chance is used to elevate the lives of millions of animals in the country. Failing to support Ukraine to transition to anticipated EU animal welfare standards would lead to a two-speed Europe, which would not only be bad news for the animals but also for EU consumers and producers,” says Reineke Hameleers, CEO, at Eurogroup for Animals.

She adds: “It is therefore vital that the EU comes forward with revised legislation and an action plan to end cage farming across the continent, including in Ukraine, as soon as possible.”Agricultural products, including wheat, account for 41% of Ukraine’s exports.

Rebuilding Ukraine’s agricultural sector
EU leaders agreed to open accession negotiations with Ukraine in December 2023 after the country applied for EU membership days after the war with Russia started in February 2022. Back in May, the European Council showed its continued support for Ukraine by suspending import duties and quotas on Ukrainian and Moldovan exports to the EU for another year.

Olga Kikou, director of advocacy at the European Institute for Animal Law and Policy, tells Food Ingredients First that animal welfare standards are critical, but she expects the topic to be a low priority compared to other issues during the talks due to the current situation in Ukraine.

“We are talking about a war torn country. In the EU we [tend to] see things differently because we’re not in that situation,” she says.

At the end of last year, the Ukrainian agricultural sector had suffered an estimated US$80 billion in damages and losses. Rebuilding its agriculture sector is expected to cost US$56.1 billion and removing land mines from areas will cost an additional US$32 billion.

Kikou believes the EU has a lot of work to do regarding agricultural standards. She continues: “We are talking about very basic [animal welfare] standards in the EU — we’re not talking about really high standards as some would like us to believe.”

“Ukraine doesn’t even come close to these very basic standards, but from what I understand I don’t think there is a clear stipulation that they have to bring their standards up to par before [potentially] entering the union.”

The European Commission says that as accession talks continue, Ukraine will be expected to “continue to adhere to the values” listed in parts of the Treaty of the European Union.

By Sade Laja