Brussels, 15/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - EU agriculture ministers, meeting in Brussels on Monday 15 February, gave a mixed reception to the plan to put in place a European animal welfare platform.
In a joint document, the German, Swedish, Danish and Dutch support the setting up of a European Platform on Animal Welfare. At the Council of December 2014, a similar initiative received a relatively warm welcome though most delegations wanted to focus, in the first instance, on implementing and improving existing animal welfare legislation.
German minister Christian Schmidt, speaking for the joint signatory delegations, highlighted the importance of the dialogue among the member states and with the Commission, as well as with stakeholders. This platform would make discussion easier on monitoring and compliance with existing legislation, and on research. He added that the platform would be a soft-touch instrument that is easy to manage. He asked the other member states to join this initiative and the Commission to give consideration to the technical details.
French minister Stéphane Le Foll stressed that solutions had to be found for the livestock sector generally. He said he was “in agreement with the principle of such a platform, on condition that it does not bring with it increased red tape”. He said the initiative should also “recognise free-range farming”, which is not the case at the moment even though this is an approach that should not be ignored in terms of animal welfare. The French position was supported by several countries, including Portugal, Romania, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Slovenia and Lithuania. Poland stated its opposition to any new legislation in this area.
Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, United Kingdom, Greece, Finland and Czech Republic gave clear support to the platform initiative.
Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis stated that he hoped to finalise a number of measures in relation to the animal welfare strategy. Guidelines on pig welfare are expected soon. A meeting with member state experts to discuss this issue will take place on 23-24 February. This meeting will allow discussion on how possible the platform is and the form it could take. Informed by these discussions and the findings of a Eurobarometer survey in the process of being finalised, the Commission will consider the next steps towards setting up the platform. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)