On 6 February, the organisers of the ‘Stop Finning - Stop the Trade' initiative met with Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, to present their ideas in more depth. 

‘Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’ initiative has reached 1,217,916 validated statements of support from EU citizens, with thresholds attained in 21 countries and was submitted to the European Commission for examination on 25 January 2023. It has become the ninth successful European Citizens' Initiative (ECI).

The initiative calls on the Commission to initiate legislation, strengthen and broaden the existing EU bans on animal testing for cosmetics and the marketing of ingredients tested on animals, as well as to adopt a legislative proposal setting out a roadmap to phase out all animal testing before the end of Commission’s current mandate.

The Commission will meet its organisers to discuss the initiative in detail in the next weeks. A public hearing will then be organised by the European Parliament. The Commission has until 25 July 2023 to present its official reply, outlining the actions it intends to take.

On 24 January, the European Commission presented 'A New Deal for Pollinators' to tackle the alarming decline in wild pollinating insects in Europe, revising the 2018 EU Pollinators Initiative. Citizens have been increasingly calling for decisive action against pollinator loss, also through the recent successful European Citizens' Initiative ‘Save Bees and Farmers'.