The primary objective of the review of animal welfare legislation should be the “continued facilitation of high welfare intracommunity trade and export of live animals, but not be focused on measures aimed at prohibiting or limiting certain types of transport” according to a note from eight EU Member States (Portugal, France, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Spain).
In short, this group of countries is calling for a measured reform of animal welfare legislation, in contrast to the northern European countries, which are calling for far-reaching changes to the rules, particularly with regard to the transport of farm animals. These different positions were expressed during the last debate on this dossier in the EU ‘Agriculture’ Council (see EUROPE 12995/12).
The note prepared by Portugal will be discussed by EU agriculture ministers at their meeting on 30 January in Brussels.
According to this note, the revised legislation should therefore contain clear and precise definitions of all requirements/standards aimed at improving welfare conditions during transport in order to facilitate the uniform application of controls and their enforcement. Furthermore, “any revised legislation should be based on strong technical and scientific knowledge and draw on the experience and good practices of Member States in implementing and enforcing the legislation, taking into account the need to ensure the economic competitiveness of EU agricultural enterprises”.
Joe Moran, Director of the European Policy Office of the NGO FOUR PAWS, regretted in a statement issued on Thursday 19 January that the document contained nothing “to deal with the failings of transporting animals long distances, via road and by sea”.
The Commission will make proposals this year on strengthening animal welfare.
Link to this note: https://aeur.eu/f/4yj (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)