On Thursday 12 December, the MEPs of the European Parliament Committees on Agriculture and Transport confirmed their differences over the proposal to improve the transport of farm animals.
The European Parliament has started to work on the European Commission’s December 2023 proposal (see EUROPE 13543/12).
The rapporteurs for the two committees, Daniel Buda (EPP, Romanian) and Tilly Metz (Greens/EFA, Luxembourger), have very different points of view. In particular, Ms Metz (‘transport’ committee) called for an end to the transport of live animals to third countries, advocating instead the transport of carcasses. Mr Buda (‘agriculture’ committee) replied that this was not possible, in particular because third countries do not want to receive animals that have already been slaughtered.
Daniel Buda once again highlighted the problem of the legislation in force, which is not applied uniformly across the EU. He criticised the proposed provisions on temperature thresholds, which could put an end to the transport of live animals to Spain or Portugal (in very hot weather) as well as to the Nordic countries, where temperatures often fall below 5 degrees.
Mr Buda mentioned the good idea of slaughtering animals close to the farm, but pointed out that a lot of slaughter houses are closing.
More space. Many MEPs from the EPP, Renew Europe, ECR and Patriots for Europe groups have criticised the Commission’s proposal to increase the space for animals in lorries, on the grounds that this would lead to more lorries on the roads (and therefore more pollution) and a greater risk of injury (animals less stable). “This proposal worries us”, said Borja Giménez Larraz (EPP, Spanish). Other MEPs stressed the additional costs to be borne by farmers and consumers.
Marianne Vind (S&D, Danish), on the other hand, said that she would have liked to have seen a “more ambitious” proposal, including a maximum journey time of 8 hours. Maria Noichl (S&D, German) stressed that when transporting goods to third countries, the EU’s strict rules should be respected right up to the final destination in the third country. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)