Greens/EFA take European Parliament to court over animal welfare conditions

The Greens/EFA group is taking the European Parliament to the European Court of Justice for having blocked the setting up of a committee of inquiry into the conditions around animal transport. This is despite the fact that 223 MEPs had called for the creation of a committee of inquiry, more than the 183 required.

Unfortunately, the Conference of Presidents of the political groups, to which President Antonio Tajani also belongs, prevented the request from being put to a vote in the plenary session of the European Parliament.

There is now a report looking into how to deal with the abuses in animal transport, led by the conservative-dominated Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI).

Pascal Durand, Greens/EFA MEP and Vice-President of the Intergroup for Animal Welfare comments:

"The attitude of President Tajani and the Conference of Presidents is absolutely not up to the task. This attitude betrays the urgency called for to act against animal suffering, which millions of European citizens are demanding, and it's unfit for the democratic functioning of how the European Parliament should be.

Bart Staes, Greens/EFA Member of the Committee on Environment, comments:

"It's a bad joke that the Conservative-dominated Agriculture Committee should report on the abuses in animal transport. This report will probably toe the conservative line to little consequence and no improvement to animal welfare, as the political forces in the AGRI committee have mainly been defending the interests of industrial and export oriented agriculture, rather than interests of animal welfare. MEPs must decide in plenary whether a committee of inquiry should deal with the suffering of animals being transported across the European Union and make recommendations against the abuse of animals. 

Background

The Greens/EFA group are calling for a committee of inquiry to investigate the numerous infringements of Regulation 1/2005 on the transport of live animals. Within the European Union, pigs and cows are often transported in confined spaces far beyond the permitted times, the water supply is inadequate and rules on temperatures and rest periods are not observed.