Less than three weeks remain before the impending deadline on sow stalls, which will be partially banned throughout the EU under new animal welfare legislation. However, figures show that, in a potential repeat of the fiasco surrounding this year's battery cage ban, the majority of EU states may not be ready when the new laws take effect.

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To date, only five member states have reached full compliance; before the drive to phase out sow stalls, the crates had already been banned in two member states (the UK and Sweden) for around a decade.

Figures presented to an EU standing committee earlier this month show that fewer than 50 percent of pig units in Belgium, Portugal, Germany and France meet new welfare standards, which has caused concern over member states' ability to achieve compliance by 1st January, when the new law will be introduced.

Northern Ireland MEP Jim Nicholson commented on Tuesday, "We have had repeated promises from the Commission that this would not be a re-run of the Welfare of Laying Hens farce yet with less than three weeks to go we still find ourselves facing a situation where just five member states are actually compliant." Mr Nicholson described the current level of compliance in the EU as "totally unacceptable."

Farming organisations have complained that the dalliance of some member states in enforcing new laws risks threatening producers elsewhere in the bloc. Producers in the UK have said rising feed prices and input costs, as well as lower returns, which are stinging producers in Central Europe in particular, mean they cannot afford to be undercut.

Nicholson has written to Health and Consumer Affairs minister Tonio Borg, claiming that a lack of action on the new legislation will distort the European market and put compliant producers at a disadvantage.

Furthermore, the slow progress in some states' industries stands in direct contrast to moves being made in wider EU policy, and the will of the European public. Commenting on the adoption of resolutions for tighter animal welfare legislation, which passed in the European Parliament last week with an overwhelming 555 votes for to 56 against, Conservative MEP and rapporteur Janusz Wojciechowski stated, "Mahatma Gandhi said that the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals. Our calls prove that we do care for their wellbeing."

However, in reality the chance of all EU states being fully compliant by 1st January looks remote, and the situation once again raises questions over the commitment of industry and a number of national governments to honouring progressive EU policy decisions on animal welfare.

As was the case in early 2012, when the new Welfare of Laying Hens Directive came into force, from next month meat from non-compliant states will be confined to its country of origin as new regulations will prohibit meat which does not meet new welfare standards from being sold to other EU countries. However, there are concerns that non-compliant meat could potentially still be sold to third countries.