The scenario is laughable. The President of the European Commission, a recurring target of disinformation, would like to “force cows to wear masks” to prevent them from polluting, according to numerous viral messages on X, YouTube and Facebook. This would be the “new scam craze” according to a YouTuber. “This proposal from Ursula Von der Leyen arouses indignation among farmers and industry,” the posts continue. This misinformation comes from an improbable interpretation of the Green Deal’s Industrial Emissions Directive (IED), for which an important negotiation took place on November 28.
What are Internet users basing their outrage on? First on an article from an Austrian online tabloid, The Express, already at the origin of false information on an alleged request for a 15% increase in Ursula von der Leyen’s salary. This article argues “there is even talk of forcing cows to wear masks.”
“Strange ideas”
In support, the tabloid mentions the conservative German daily World. The latter writes that “strange ideas” have been launched by some MEPs such as “asking that cows wear masks”. But World don’t quote these MEPs [qui, rappelons-le, ne font pas partie de la Commission européenne] and, above all, writes quite the opposite at the end of the article. “It can be assumed that cow masks will not be available anytime soon,” the journalist concludes.
Belgian MEP Benoît Lutgen (EPP, right) is quoted in World. The rapporteur of the Agriculture Committee on the IED directive is said to have said, without specifying the context, “that there is no need to put a filter on a cow”. Contacted by 20 minutes, Benoît Lutgen tells us that he does not remember saying this sentence. After research, this is the title of a column that he published on November 30, 2022 in Parliament Magazine, where he opposes the integration of the cattle sector into the directive. “The Commission’s proposal to include farms with more than 150 cows within the scope of the directive goes too far,” he writes.
“Maybe a joke”
From the start, the Belgian has been opposed to the agricultural sector being included in a directive alongside industrial installations, such as refineries or cement factories, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. It is from this perspective that the image of the filter on a cow is taken, compared to the filters installed on industrial chimneys.
But this was never a serious proposal put forward in parliament. “Maybe someone said it as a joke,” says the MEP, who has no specific memory on the subject. The same goes for the executive body of the European Union. “The Commission has never proposed and does not intend to put masks on cows. This information is false,” a spokesperson for the institution told us. And indeed, if we look the initial directive proposalpresented in April 2022, there is nothing like it.
The real disagreement: the integration or not of the bovine sector in the directive
But a disagreement between the Commission and the European Parliament did indeed exist. In its initial proposal, the Commission included intensive cattle farming, alongside pig and poultry facilities. This involved including 10% of the largest cattle farms, which represent 41% of the sector’s emissions, with the aim of reducing annual emissions of 184 kt of methane and 59 kt of ammonia.
The whole issue has centered on the fact that even large cattle operations can be on outdoor pastures for a good part of the year. The Commission stated that it was necessary to “take into account the specificities of pastured cattle farming systems, in which animals are only raised in indoor facilities on a seasonal basis, while minimizing the burdens on the sector” .
An exclusion adopted in July
Illegible and unrealistic for a certain number of actors. This is why farmers were not satisfied with this directive, as was stated in the Express. Under pressure from MEPs and the agricultural lobby COPA-Cogeca, the cattle sector was excluded from the scope of FDI in July 2023 during a vote in the European Parliament. While a new negotiation took place on November 28, three MEPs published a Tribune the day before to denounce a directive which “could lead to industrial management of cattle breeding, and endanger farms”.
Cattle grazing on meadows cannot be confined. “The ammonia and methane that cows emit cannot be captured, unless farmers are forced to place their animals in a closed environment deprived of daylight. We say no! » write Benoît Lutgen, the French Jérémy Decerle (Renew, centrist) and the Italian Paolo De Castro (S & D, left).
…And confirmed during negotiations at the end of November
On November 28, the famous trilogue took place, that is to say a meeting of representatives of the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission. In this provisional agreementwhich will have to be adopted in parliament, the cattle sector remains excluded from the IED directive and “there is nothing on masks for cows in the agreement obtained”, adds the Commission spokesperson.
A review concerning the cattle sector is planned for 2026. “The commission will have to come with a proposal also including reciprocity clauses at our borders, mirror clauses,” adds Benoît Lutgen. This means that if we impose something on our producers, we must also impose it on what enters European territory. »
Last clarification: Internet users have shown imagination to create visual filters by positioning them on the hindquarters of cows, for example. Nothing like that in reality. A mask capturing the methane released by the noses of cattle does exist, but it is placed on the snout. It was created by the start-up Zelt and the agri-food giant Cargill France. Several press articles echoed this in 2021. And, once again, nothing of the sort is made obligatory in the directive currently under discussion.