Agriculture cautiously responded that "a political solution is being explored" and that the Agriculture Minister would soon provide more information. In March 2020, the Directorate of Production and Agrarian Markets of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture stated that it is working with egg producers to end the annual culling of 35 million male chicks in Spain in 2021. The Ministry said producers were testing two different techniques of in-ovo sex detection. In January 2021, the German federal government approved a draft law banning chick culling, to be effectuated at the end of 2021. If passed by the Bundestag, Germany would become the first country in the world to ban this practice, confirming its joint commitment with France made in January 2020. On 20 May 2021, the Bundestag indeed voted to ban the culling of male chicks in Germany from 1 January 2022. Although as of 2021 the scientific consensus was that chicken embryos wouldn't be able to experience pain until day 11 at the earliest, and at the time most in ovo-sexing startups managed to sex them at day 9, the new German law also dictated that by 1 January 2024, all fertilised eggs in Germany must be sexed within 6 days to avoid any chance of the embryo having consciousness and thus being able to experience pain, presenting new challenges to scientists. On 15 June 2021, the Dutch parliament by 81 votes to 69 adopted a motion directed at Agriculture Minister Carola Schouten to ban chick killing in the Netherlands. The motion, written and submitted by MPs Sandra Beckerman (SP) and Leonie Vestering (PvdD), stated: "[Parliament], noting that about 40 million male chicks are killed in the Netherlands annually because they have no economic value; considering that this is unnecessary because there are alternatives; considering that France and Germany are already introducing a ban; pronounces that the killing of male chicks should be prohibited." The same day, another motion by MPs Beckerman and Derk Boswijk (CDA), adopted by a much larger majority of 115 votes to 35, requested the government to inquire how, and how fast, a ban on killing male chicks could be introduced. The motion reiterated that the annual killing of 40 million Dutch male chicks was unnecessary, that France and Germany were already introducing a ban, and furthermore stated that "a ban in the Netherlands is desirable and must be done in a way that is