EA - What do the Polish 2023 parliamentary elections mean for animals? by Pawel Rawicki

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: What do the Polish 2023 parliamentary elections mean for animals?, published by Pawel Rawicki on December 28, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.On October 15, Polish citizens headed to the polling stations to elect their representatives for the next four years. The coalition of opposition parties which secured the majority in Parliament has turned the tide of political force in the country. The upcoming parliamentary term brings opportunities, as well as numerous challenges for animal welfare in Poland and beyond. What are the potential implications for animals of the election results?Summary:The size of agricultural production in Poland makes the country an important player influencing European Union policies.The Law and Justice party governed Poland for eight years, shaping conservative policies.In 2020, the party proposed the so-called 'five for animals' bill. The bill, aiming to improve animal welfare, faced challenges and eventual failure, leading Law and Justice to abandon the animal protection topic.Controversy over ritual slaughter and farmer protests influenced Law and Justice to backtrack on the proposed reforms, hindering animal welfare initiatives.Collaborative efforts by animal advocacy groups before the 2023 elections pressured political parties on key issues like a fur farming ban and phasing out cages for farmed animals.The election results placed Law and Justice in the lead but lacking a majority, resulting in several former opposition parties forming the new government.Despite challenges, optimism exists for future animal welfare policies in Poland, including a fur farming ban, phasing out cages, and addressing fast-growing chicken breeds.A brief overview of the farmed animal situation in PolandAnimal production and exports landscapePoland is one of the biggest net meat exporters in the world.According to the Polish Development Fund, in 2021 the country was the fourth-largest net exporter of processed meat, fish, or shellfish in the world and the eighth-largest net exporter of meat and edible offal. The poultry industry is of particular significance with 1,451,000,000 broiler chickenshatched in 2022 and more than half of the poultry meat being exported. Currently, there are over 52,800,000 egg-laying hens in Poland, and 72% of them are still kept in cages. There are also3,430,000 animals (mostlymink) killed for fur every year in Poland (in 2015, the yearly export of fur skins from the country increased to over 10 million, but since then, the number of fur animals has been in decline).Poland's position in the European UnionDue to its size and economy - Poland is the fifth-largest European Union Member State by population - Poland plays an important role in Europe. For these reasons, Polish internal politics significantly impact the direction of the EU as a whole, especially in the agricultural sector. One example of this was theattempt of the Polish government to block the EU's Green Deal.Animal welfare in conservative PolandFor the past eight years (2015-2023), Poland was ruled by a government formed by the majority partyLaw and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość), a national-conservative party with an interventionist approach to the economy. The party belongs to the European Conservatives and Reformists Party in the EU. Animal welfare is not part of Law and Justice's political program, however, a significant number of their MPs and MEPs[1] have been involved in animal welfare initiatives, like theIntergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals in the European Parliament.Between 2015 and 2020, Anima International had relatively good relations with some of the party's MPs and MEPs as a result of several instances of cooperation. In 2018, Law and Justice MEPs co-organized with Eurogroup for Animals (and with the help of A...