Brussels, 22/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - During an initial guideline debate on the proposed regulation aiming to ban the sale within the EU of products derived from whales slaughtered using "inhumane" methods causing needless suffering (EUROPE 9709), the environment ministers were unanimous, in Luxembourg on 20 October, in their full support for the objective of protecting animal welfare as pursued by the text on the table. This is particularly important as this concern is fully shared by European public opinion. Differences of opinion nonetheless arose over the scope of application of the future regulation in the details of its implementation. The President of the Council, Jean-Louis Borloo, noted unanimity on the "no to cruelty", but "a few differences over the way in which it is to be applied".
The majority of delegations took the view that too many derogations provided for by the text will make it extremely difficult to keep tabs on the implementation of the regulation (United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Latvia, Hungary, Italy, Estonia, Lithuania and Germany), and that only a total ban would guarantee the efficiency of the legislation. Some of these delegations even went so far as to call for the regulation to be extended to all species of whale (30 in total) above and beyond the 17 covered by the proposal (Belgium, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary and Lithuania).
In the opposite camp, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Estonia pleaded for traditional methods of hunting to be kept in place and for consideration for the economic interests of the native communities, whose bread and butter this represents. Sweden even stressed the importance of whale hunting for the preservation of fish stocks, as whales are major predators of certain species of fish. (A.N./trans.fl)