AUTHORS: Axel Godfroy and Melanie Muro

Farmed animal welfare is a growing priority for EU citizens, but many farm animals across the EU are still not kept in acceptable welfare conditions. This first EU-wide review of how the Common Agricultural Policy’s national Strategic Plans for 2023 – 2027 incentivise actions to enhance the welfare of farm animals evaluates both the design and ambition of national measures, and identifies best practices, critical gaps, and ways forward.

In a recent Eurobarometer survey, 91% of respondents agreed that the protection of farmed animals was important. Despite this strong public mandate, farm animal welfare across the European Union remains inadequate, with a 2022 Fitness Check concluding that many farm animals across the EU are still not kept in acceptable welfare conditions. The 2023–2027 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) presents a renewed opportunity to address these gaps through Member State-designed CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs). These include instruments such as eco-schemes, investment support, and agri-environment-climate commitments.

This review of the national CSPs for the period 2023 – 2027 identifies a total of 136 animal welfare-relevant support schemes across Member States, including mostly eco-schemes, investment support, agri-environment-climate commitments, and to a lesser extent cooperation measures, and knowledge–transfer tools.

However, the analysis shows that despite having the tools to improve animal welfare, the  CAP Strategic Plans existing landscape of animal welfare support schemes is likely to fall short of driving real progress. Schemes are limited by low ambition, vague standards, and a lack of EU-wide goals. There’s minimal investment in the long-term infrastructure needed for higher-welfare farming, and eco-schemes remain underused for animal welfare. Additionally, outdated and harmful practices still receive funding due to weak conditionality rules.

The following recommendations outline how both the EU and its Member States can address these gaps to ensure that CAP funding delivers on public expectations, aligns with scientific evidence, and supports the transition to more humane and sustainable farming systems.

EU level

• Support structural change through CAP funding. Prioritise long-term, high-welfare investments (e.g. pasture access, enriched housing) over short-term compensation schemes, guided by clear EU objectives and reinforced conditionality.
• Set EU-wide animal welfare objectives and targets. Establish time-bound goals (e.g. phasing out cages or tethering) to provide clarity and consistency across Member States.
• Recognise animal welfare as a standalone CAP objective and ensure proper monitoring through both quantitative and qualitative indicators.
• Strengthen minimum welfare requirements by introducing baseline animal welfare standards under CAP conditionality, including bans on harmful practices and eligibility limits based on breed suitability.

Member State Level

• Improve needs assessments in Strategic Plans to identify overlooked welfare issues, such as tethering, and address them systematically.
• Estimate financial needs and tailor support. Align payment levels with the real costs of achieving welfare goals, using structural investments where appropriate.
• Include at least one animal welfare eco-scheme and combine these annual payments with investment support for higher-welfare transitions.
• Shift funding toward higher-welfare systems. Prioritise support for free-range and outdoor-access farming over intensive models.
• Follow scientific guidance by aligning scheme requirements with EFSA recommendations and define them clearly.
• Strengthen enforcement by requiring verifiable implementation and active monitoring of welfare improvements

Report cover photo by Amélie Faurent on Unsplash