On Tuesday 10 February, the European Commission partially registered a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) entitled ‘EU initiative to protect stray dogs, stray cats and animals in shelters in the EU/non-EU countries’.
The initiative calls on the Commission to strengthen the protection of stray animals and shelters and to ensure that EU actions in third countries do not aggravate their suffering. The organisers are also calling for restrictions on the use of dogs and cats for scientific purposes. They want EU funding, trade and cooperation to respect minimum animal protection standards.
The Commission can only register those parts that fall within its legislative powers: animal shelters, animal testing for scientific purposes, trade and funding. Policies that are the exclusive responsibility of the Member States cannot be registered. The Commission has not analysed the substance of the proposals at this stage. The final decision will depend on the collection of at least one million signatures from at least seven Member States. The organisers have six months to launch the signature-gathering period, which will last 12 months. If the threshold is reached, the Commission will have to respond and justify any action envisaged.
For further details: https://aeur.eu/f/knx (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)