Amsterdam city council is taking meat and fish off the menu from next year after the local executive committee agreed to offer only vegetarian snacks at its lunch meetings and receptions.

The move follows a campaign by the animal rights party PvdD to introduce vegan-only catering at civic events. Rutger Groot Wassink and Laurens Ivens, aldermen for management and animal welfare respectively, decided that the PvdD’s initiative went too far but supported the switch to vegetarian catering.

Under the plan, which still has to be approved by the council, guests will still be able to eat meat and fish, but only if they request it in advance.

If the council backs the measure it is expected to be implemented when the new catering service contract is put out to tender next year.

The council is not the first Dutch government institution to introduce vegetarian catering as standard: the ministry for education, culture and science made the switch last year.