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Foie gras : les raisons de la volte-face du Parlement européen

By February 22nd, 2022March 8th, 2022No Comments

Document type news item from the Euractiv France website

Author: Natasha Foote

From Backing Bans to Foie Gras Fans: The Story behind the European Parliament's U-turn. The European Parliament has declared foie gras production respectful of animal welfare criteria in a new report, despite previously demanding a ban on force-feeding, which was called "cruel and unnecessary". EURACTIV explores what is behind this change of heart.
Foie gras, or "fatty liver", a speciality food product made from the liver of a duck or goose that has been force-fed via a process known as "gavage", which subsequently causes the liver to become abnormally enlarged.
The force-feeding of these animals is highly controversial, with campaigners and animal welfare experts arguing that the practice is cruel. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has condemned force-feeding, stating that it raises "serious animal welfare issues".


Despite this, Parliament passed its own-initiative report on animal welfare  last Tuesday (15 February) by a large majority which includes a provision stating that foie gras production is "based on farming procedures that respect animal welfare criteria".
The justification for this is that it it predominantly takes place on family farms, where birds  "spend 90% of their lives in the open air and where the fattening phase, which lasts between 10 and 12 days on average with two meals per day, respects the animal's biological parameters," according to the report.
The move represents a change of heart for MEPs, who previously called for a complete ban on force-feeding only one year prior in their End the Cage Age report published in June 2021.
"[The Parliament] calls on the Commission to put forward proposals to ban the cruel and unnecessary force-feeding of ducks and geese for the production of foie gras," the 2021 report read.


Legal position
Foie gras production finds itself in an  unusual position in EU rules, given that it is technically prohibited in the EU under Article 3 of the European Convention for the Protection of Animals kept for Farming Purposes.
The production of foie gras is also banned in several European countries, including the Czech Republic, Italy and Germany. .
However, five EU Member States - Bulgaria, France, Spain, Hungary, Belgium - have a special derogation from this EU legislation given their traditional ties with the luxury foodstuff, as they consider its production as a regional heritage. This exception is established in the founding treaties, as Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which reads that the EU's agricultural policies "shall pay, since animals are sentient beings, full regard to the welfare requirements of animals while respecting the legislative or administrative provisions and customs of the Member States relating, in particular, to religious rites, cultural traditions and regional heritage".

From the Euractiv website