MEP Jérémy Decerle (Renew Europe, France)—whose report on animal welfare was adopted (36 votes in favour, 5 against, and 7 abstentions) in the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture on Tuesday, 26 October—felt that animal welfare rules needed to be harmonised at the European level before being made stricter (see EUROPE 12819/5).
Mr Decerle lamented the fact that the Greens/EFA had voted against the report even though the group had participated in drafting the compromise amendments. “We, nevertheless, incorporated almost all of their demands into the compromises”, the rapporteur told EUROPE. He thus does not understand why the Greens/EFA group did “not respect the deal by deciding, with no warning, to vote against the report”.
Francisco Guerreiro (Greens/EFA, Portugal) actually thinks that the report is “unrealistic” because animal welfare non-compliances would be considered “anecdotal cases”.
Yet, according to Mr Decerle, the progress that EU farmers have made in the area of animal welfare should not go unnoticed. “We need to harmonise things at the European level before we make the rules tougher”. It is also necessary, in his opinion, to ensure better implementation of existing rules so as “to raise the level of the countries or productions that are the most behind”.
He insisted on the importance of financially supporting the progress asked of farmers.
By adopting Mr Decerle’s draft report, MEPs in the European Parliament’s Committee on Agriculture are notably calling for a mandatory European framework that would provide EU countries the prospect of having a product labelling system that certifies animal welfare.
MEPs also called for battery cages for laying hens to be banned and lamented the fact that only two EU countries ban tail docking on pig farms.
Mr Decerle’s report is expected to be put to a vote in December during the European Parliament’s plenary session. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)