As Director General and President of AnimalhealthEurope we start our annual report with a hearty word of thanks to our secretariat for all their hard work and dedication throughout an extremely busy year. We invite you to browse through our annual report to find out what 2025 had in store for us, and to read more about our activities to raise awareness on why animal health matters.

Meeting the new Commissioners in charge of our dossiers

With the new European Commission taking up its seat at the end of 2024, the AnimalhealthEurope officers and secretariat benefited from several occasions to meet with the newly appointed Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, in particular to discuss the worrying upwards trend in animal disease outbreaks. The team also met with the cabinet members of the Commissioners for Agriculture and Food, and Prosperity and Industrial Strategy, to discuss some of the challenges to animal health that may emerge from horizontal legislation on environmental issues and chemicals.

A strengthened association

2025 saw us review our strategic direction to strengthen our focus and drive to ensure a competitive business environment for manufacturers of animal health products in Europe. We were also pleased to physically strengthen our association with two new member companies, the UK-headquartered Dechra, and the US-headquartered Phibro. Our now 14 member companies and 16 national associations are united in supporting innovation and excellence in animal health to support our vision for Healthy animals across Europe.

One health, sustainability and innovation, underlined by competitiveness

Throughout the year our secretariat worked hard to foster enhanced competitiveness of the sector, jumping on the simplification omnibuses to highlight key areas for our regulators and EU decision-makers to reduce administrative burden. We also had the pleasure to speak at a number of events this year on our priority focus areas – One health, sustainability, and innovation – as well as disease prevention, and the potential for big data use in the animal health space.

Year four of the new EU rules on veterinary medicines

We have greatly appreciated the many exchanges we have had throughout the year with the European Commission’s DG SANTE and the European Medicines Agency’s CVMP on the continued implementation progress of the 2019 EU Regulations on Veterinary Medicines and Medicated Feed, in particular the first-ever stakeholder exchange with DG SANTE in October. We also very much welcome the end-of-year meeting with the Executive Director of the EMA to share our concerns about upcoming EU chemicals legislation which may jeopardise the continued availability of veterinary medicines in Europe.

A good year for cats and dogs

In a historic move for pet health and welfare in the EU, we were pleased to witness the landmark agreement between the European Parliament and Council in setting EU-wide rules to protect cats and dogs. This first-of-its-kind Regulation for cats and dogs helps to ensure stronger safeguards for breeding and selling, encourages preventive healthcare, and mandatory microchipping for improved traceability. Not only will this ensure a better life for our pets, but it is a major step towards ending the illegal pet trade into the EU.

Stakeholders united for preventing animal disease

The animal health sector came together with veterinarians, farmers, the feed sector, the livestock traders, and other food value chain partners in a joint call to make animal disease prevention a strategic investment for Europe. The call is both timely, given the relentless animal disease outbreaks, and pertinent, as it aligns with recommendations from the European Parliament, the Council, and the World Organisation for Animal Health, who have all called for urgent changes to current animal disease control practices.

A final thanks to our network of contacts

We would not have accomplished half of the work we did without the support of our member companies, associations and various experts we work with on a daily basis. Thanks also go to our partners in the Brussels Bubble, the regulatory authorities and the EU decision-makers who have kindly taken part in our events, invited us to speak at important events, and had a listening ear during the year for exchanges on animal health related matters.