The European Union legislates for 450 million humans and countless billions of non-human animals. It can influence global policies through diplomacy and trade. The past few years have seen a lot of movement for animals at the EU level (unfortunately mostly in the domain of "animal welfare" and not "animal rights") and, finally, some progress in acknowledging that Europe needs to shift to a plant-based diet. The European Commission, in charge of legislative proposals, has announced a big revision of EU animal welfare norms for 2023, including a possible ban on cage farming and, hopefully, a ban on live exports to third countries.

Civil society has been and continues to be a major driver for these advances. There are a lot of ways for citizens and NGOs to get directly involved in EU politics and impact the agenda in favor of animal rights. This workshop aims to provide activists with the necessary tools and information to effectively advocate for animals at a European level.