BRUSSELS, 18 MAY 2022 – The Fur Free Alliance today celebrated the launch of the European Citizens Initiative (ECI) Fur Free Europe. Working in collaboration with animal protection groups across Europe, including Eurogroup for Animals, the ECI campaign has one year starting today to collect one million signatures from EU citizens who support our call to make fur history in Europe.
The Fur Free Europe ECI calls on the EU to ban fur farming and the placing on the market of farmed fur products, since the production of fur is unethical, unsafe and unsustainable:
At a meeting of the Council of the European Union (Agriculture and Fisheries Council) in June 2021, the Netherlands and Austria tabled an information note, supported by Belgium, Germany Luxembourg and Slovakia, which called on the European Commission to ban fur farming. The call to end fur farming in the EU on the grounds of animal welfare, public health and ethical considerations, was backed by a total of twelve Member States during the deliberations on this paper.
The ECI Fur Free Europe was officially registered by the European Commission on 16/03/2022 and will run from 18/05/2022 for one year.
Joh Vinding, Chair of the Fur Free Alliance, said:
“There has never been a more urgent need for Europe to make the cruel and unnecessary fur trade history. The fur industry not only treats animals inhumanely for a product no-one needs, but has also been shown to be a breeding ground for outbreaks of infectious diseases such as Covid-19, as well as having a serious negative environmental impact. We know that public opinion in Europe opposes the fur industry and we need European citizens to act now by signing this ECI.”