The Spanish Young Farmers’ Association (ASAJA) warned, on Tuesday 5 December, that the European Commission’s proposal on livestock transport, to be presented on 6 December, could have a negative impact on the competitiveness of the EU livestock sector.
The Spanish association ASAJA criticises the Commission for failing to consult farmers throughout the process of drawing up the proposal, seen by EUROPE (see EUROPE 13305/8). The association is calling for greater harmonisation and for existing regulations to be checked for compliance “before imposing new requirements”.
“It is indicated that travel time limitations for ruminants and pigs will have a positive impact on animal welfare and are not expected to have a large economic impact, (but) this is clearly wrong (as) the indirect restrictions that this would mean for pigs and ruminants are not taken into account (...), affecting both the economy of the sector, the jobs of transporters and the viability of farms”, argues the ASAJA.
Other grievances: - in relation to the transport of piglets from the Netherlands, the proposal to limit journey times would make the cost overruns associated with long journeys unviable, affecting the import of approximately 3 million piglets and generating a deficit in the meat industry; - the imposition of temperature limits on overnight travel and the proposed restrictions on exports could have negative repercussions on intra and extra-EU trade, affecting the economy and employment in the sector; - the disproportionate nature of the proposed legislation is particularly detrimental to peripheral and warm countries such as Spain.
The ASAJA questions the Commission’s impact study, which it deems to be erroneous, and published its own impact study (https://aeur.eu/f/9y3 ).
The NGO Eurogroup For Animals, for its part, has presented an analysis in which it explains why the proposal is not ambitious enough (https://aeur.eu/f/9y4 ). However, according to the NGO, the project does contain some positive elements, such as the reduction in maximum transport times and the minimum age (5 months) for transporting unweaned calves. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)