Rapporteur Stefan Eck (GUE/NGL, Germany) hopes that the European Parliament will, in Strasbourg on Tuesday 14 March, adopt the amendment that he, along with 75 other MEPs put down calling on the Commission to bring forward, within an appropriate timeframe, a legislative proposal on minimum standards for the protection of farmed rabbits (see EUROPE 11711). It is, however, unlikely that the amendment will be passed.
Eck, rapporteur on the protection of farmed rabbits, told EUROPE that he would be satisfied even if the plenary session only adopted the report as approved by the Parliamentary agriculture committee. This report calls, though in terms less unambiguous than the amendment tabled by the 76 MEPs, proposals for improving rabbit welfare. “The rabbit farming sector is in crisis”, he pointed out. He argues for the use in the EU of park systems, where the rabbits being reared would have more space, rather than traditional battery cages. Breeders who move to this kind of farming should, he feels, receive financial assistance from EU funds.
Alternative report from EPP. The EPP Group has presented an alternative report on protecting rabbits – one that is “much less ambitious”, according to Eck. The EPP does not call for legislation on rabbit protection but rather a common approach (and a Commission recommendation) on rabbit health and guidelines which contain good practice to improve the animals’ welfare. A source suggested that the balance in the plenary session was more likely to tip in favour of the report that was adopted by a very wide majority in the agriculture committee. The Commission is not at any rate required to present proposals, this being an own initiative report. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)