On Monday 11 December, the EU agriculture ministers gave a fairly positive welcome to the European Commission’s proposals for improving the welfare of farm animals (see EUROPE 13309/7).
The Danish minister, Jacob Jensen, began by pointing out that his country and other Member States - Germany, Sweden and Luxembourg - had called for an 8-hour transport limit for animals destined for slaughter (see EUROPE 13083/16). He regretted the absence of other proposals, notably on animal welfare labelling.
Denmark and other countries such as France have welcomed the proposals on the welfare of dogs and cats.
Luxembourg regretted that the European Commission had not proposed an EU-wide ban on the export of live animals to third countries, while Marc Fesneau, the French minister, welcomed the fact that such a ban was not on the table.
The Netherlands considers the proposals to be insufficiently ambitious, particularly with regard to restrictions on the export of live animals.
France welcomed the mirror clauses (reciprocity) provided for in the proposal.
Romania stressed the need to avoid the loss of markets for European producers as a result of these texts.
The Czech Republic and Poland have asked for sufficiently long transitional periods to allow the sector to adapt to the new rules.
Finland applied for exemptions in view of the journey times and weather conditions (i.e., cold weather) in the country.
Stella Kyriakides, the European Commissioner for Health, acknowledged that a balance had to be struck in the proposals to take account of the specific characteristics of the Member States (remoteness, commercial structures, weather conditions). Work is continuing on the other proposals in the animal welfare package, she promised. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)