Commission falling fowl enforcing ban on battery cages

Conservative spokesman on the European Parliament agriculture committee Richard Ashworth,  is warning of widespread flouting of the ban on battery cages for egg laying hens, set to come into force on the 1st January 2012, after European Commissioner for health and consumer policy John Dalli spoke to the agriculture committee yesterday.   The 1999 EU laying hens Directive gave EU member states twelve years to switch standard battery cages to "enriched" cages, which are larger and contain litter, perches and a scratching post. As many as one hundred million hens are estimated to be unlawfully housed in the new year, producing up to eighty million eggs a day.  Commissioner Dalli spoke of "tough measures" including "audits" of member states suspected of breaking the law and "infringement proceedings" for those found to be non-compliant. However, the Commissioner seemed unsure of his legal footing concerning what measures he will be able to introduce, inferring there will be no swift action to crack down on those member states after the deadline passes.  Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Spain and Greece have given no information to the Commission at all, as to how they will comply with the Directive, while Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, France, Poland and Portugal have admitted they will not have removed all their cages in time. Mr Ashworth commented after the committee meeting, stating: "I find it negligent that the Commission, who have known for years that certain member states would not meet the 1st January 2012 deadline, have taken no steps to ensure that the deadline is met. "Not only is the Commission sitting on its hands without a set of measures in place to act against member states who will break the law,  it has no plans to swiftly crack down on those illegally producing eggs in 2012 and beyond. It is offering no imperative for member states to comply with the law whatsoever and potentially exposing UK egg producers to grossly unfair competition. "The Commissioner has offered no concrete plans for what to do with the tens of millions of unlawful eggs that will be produced each day under illegal conditions come the new year. His timid reply that they will not be made available for consumers in their home countries or be made available to trade is completely unrealistic with less than three months to go before the deadline. "The lack of teeth shown by the Commission in ensuring compliance sets a dangerous precedent for the future. Farmers in many member states will now have learnt that they can flout new European legislation when it suits them with no fear of penalty and with the tacit support of their government"