Fur farming and the placing of farmed fur products on the market

Question for oral answer O-000034/2025

to the Commission

Rule 142

Krzysztof Śmiszek (S&D), Günther Sidl (S&D), Thomas Waitz (Verts/ALE), Lena Schilling (Verts/ALE), Sara Matthieu (Verts/ALE), Kristian Vigenin (S&D), Sebastian Everding (The Left), Martin Häusling (Verts/ALE), Maria Noichl (S&D), Manuela Ripa (PPE), Per Clausen (The Left), Niels Fuglsang (S&D), Jussi Saramo (The Left), Ville Niinistö (Verts/ALE), Sirpa Pietikäinen (PPE), Emma Fourreau (The Left), Anne-Sophie Frigout (PfE), Virginie Joron (PfE), David Cormand (Verts/ALE), Brando Benifei (S&D), Annalisa Corrado (S&D), Mario Furore (The Left), Cristina Guarda (Verts/ALE), Carolina Morace (The Left), Dario Tamburrano (The Left), Petras Auštrevičius (Renew), Marc Angel (S&D), Tilly Metz (Verts/ALE), Anja Hazekamp (The Left), Robert Biedroń (S&D), Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus (S&D), Isabella Lövin (Verts/ALE), Jonas Sjöstedt (The Left), Michal Wiezik (Renew), Martin Hojsík (Renew), Fernand Kartheiser (NI), Catarina Vieira (Verts/ALE), Diana Iovanovici Şoşoacă (NI), Alice Kuhnke (Verts/ALE), Pär Holmgren (Verts/ALE), Valérie Deloge (PfE)

Subject: Fur farming and the placing of farmed fur products on the market

Breeding animals solely for the production of fur is outdated and ethically indefensible. Bans on both the production and sale of fur are gaining traction internationally. Within the EU, 22 Member States have either fully or partly banned fur farming or have implemented such strict regulations that the industry has effectively ceased. These measures are driven by concerns for animal welfare, environmental protection and public health. Switzerland recently became the first European country to ban imports of fur produced under cruel conditions, such as the confinement of animals in cages with wire mesh floors.

Following a Council note tabled at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council session in June 2023, a clear majority of Member States urged the Commission to ‘include provisions to ban fur farming and breeding in the EU into its forthcoming legislative proposals and to examine the possibility to introduce a ban on the sale and marketing of products derived from fur animals in the Single Market’.

Parliament recognised the inherent issues associated with fur farming and its risks to public health, including the transmission of zoonotic diseases, in its report on the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030. Similarly, EU citizens expressed their support through the ‘Fur Free Europe’ European Citizens’ Initiative, which gathered more than 1.5 million signatures calling for a ban on fur farming and farmed fur products.

In July 2025, the European Food Safety Authority confirmed that animal welfare problems in fur farming are structural and cannot be resolved through stricter husbandry rules. Its opinion highlights the severe welfare consequences for mink, foxes, raccoon dogs and chinchillas, concluding that their complex needs cannot be met within the current fur farming system.

In this context, will the Commission commit to using the ongoing revision of EU animal welfare legislation to:

1.propose an EU-wide ban on fur farming?

2.ban the placing of farmed fur products on the market, including imports, to ensure that products made under similarly cruel conditions outside the EU do not enter the single market?

Submitted: 24.9.2025

Lapses: 25.12.2025