The exhibition was co-hosted by Luxembourgish Green MEP Tilly Metz and organized by NGOs Animal Law Europe and the European Environmental Bureau, with the aim of highlighting standard practices in industrial farming. Metz’s office didn’t formally contest the request — her team submitted alternative images, and the swap was made within minutes.
The one accepted shows a piglet getting its tail docked — also legal, also painful, but apparently less upsetting.
“In agreement with MEP Tilly Metz, the photo was replaced by another one sent by her office,” Złotowski said in a written reply, citing rules against offensive or disruptive content.
Metz told POLITICO she disagreed with the decision, but wasn’t surprised — saying that since last year’s EU election, which saw a surge of right-wing and populist lawmakers, even factual depictions of farming and climate issues have become politically sensitive.
The European Commission has promised to phase out surgical castration, but no proposal has yet appeared.
The Parliament, for now, remains a place where farming policy can be debated freely — as long as no one shows too much of what it actually looks like.
