Publication Title
Journal of Common Market Studies
Document Type
Article
Department or Program
Sociology
Publication Date
10-9-2025
Keywords
animal welfare, European Union, Mercosur, regulatory ‘chill’, trade
Abstract
The EU has played a leading role in animal welfare promotion. In late 2023, however, its Commission disappointed many by not proposing expected new measures for its member states on three farming practices: slaughter, labelling and the housing of animals. What can explain this turnaround – a prime example of regulatory ‘chill’? This article focuses on one late-stage factor: the Commission's fear of jeopardising the pending EU–Mercosur trade agreement since the new standards, given the conditionality that they apply to exporters to the EU, would have risked upsetting the South American countries with their lower standards. But such a stance merits investigation: the EU normally exports its standards through trade, whilst here a sort of reversal occurred. Moreover, the Commission's concern with the fate of a bilateral trade agreement points to an unexplored driver of regulatory ‘chill’. We wish to understand, therefore, how the Commission reached its position. Relying on process tracing, this article points to the confluence of three dynamics: institutional (competition amongst three directorates-general, with Directorate General Trade prevailing), temporal (animal welfare as the ‘last straw’ in terms of EU demands to Mercosur) and symbolic (the Commission's public commitment to concluding trade deals). The article closes with reflections on the tensions between animal welfare and trade and between EU trade agreements and regulatory ‘chill’.
Recommended Citation
Duina, F. (2025). The Animals Will Have to Wait: How the EU–Mercosur Deal Helped Derail Animal Welfare Legislation. Journal of Common Market Studies. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.70041
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Bates College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
Required Publisher's Statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: "The Animals Will Have to Wait: How the EU–Mercosur Deal Helped Derail Animal Welfare Legislation," which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.70041 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
Comments
Original version is available from the publisher at: https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.70041