Rauch presented a three-point plan on Sunday. At the beginning of January, the Constitutional Court overturned the originally established transition period for implementing the ban until 2040 as too long and objectively unjustified.
Lawmakers were given until June 2025 to fix the regulation. Rauch The plan now stipulates that unstructured full-slatted bays should be banned from 2030. To ensure that companies can convert quickly, subsidies should be increased. At the same time, labeling of origin must be introduced in the catering industry so that consumers can consciously choose Austrian meat, the ministry said.
3 point plan
Rauch urged the coalition partner ÖVP for a quick agreement: “Farmers need planning security. To quickly end the unstructured full-slatted pens, we must increase funding and define the future standard for husbandry.”
The minister’s three-point plan provides:
- End of unstructured full column bays by 2030: The aim is to end animal suffering as quickly as possible. An immediate ban in June 2025 would be impossible to implement and would mean serious disadvantages or even the end for pig farmers, according to the ministry. A transition period until 2030 fulfills the shortening required by the Constitutional Court and, in combination with funding, is also “manageable” for companies. Rauch also wants better housing conditions: They should include more space for the pigs, structured areas with straw and outdoor exercise.
- Massive increase in switching subsidies for farmers: This enables companies to quickly switch to pig farming with higher standards and ensures planning security, which secures the existence of Austrian companies.
- Labeling of origin in gastronomy: The aim is to protect Austrian farmers and consumers from low-quality imported meat. This point has been hotly debated for a long time – including within the ÖVP.
Criticism from Totschnig
ÖVP Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig also expressed criticism. Without Rauch To mention it directly, he said: “A sensible compromise for the welfare of animals, which meets the demands of consumers and can be implemented by farmers, can be found at the negotiating table and not by making demands through the media .” And further: “Anyone who now wants to change political change and leaves the previously jointly agreed reform process for greater animal welfare in the pig sector is risking the supply of Austrians with local quality food.” Totschnig emphasized that, together with pig farmers, they wanted to “reach one million animal welfare pigs by 2030”. “We will only achieve this ambitious goal with an aggressive expansion of the AMA seal of quality and sufficient planning security.”
Neos see campaign insults
NEOS animal protection spokeswoman Katharina Werner feared “that it would remain just empty announcements and cheap campaign insults.” The representative: “This government has had long enough to implement. Instead of babbling, it should deliver. Instead of fighting the election campaign on the backs of animals, it should act and implement.”
The animal protection organization “Vier Pfoten” welcomed the initiative Rauch and called for a “political debate regarding the new minimum standard in pig farming”. This must “absolutely include more space and mandatory straw bedding for the animals”.
