Measures to control rabies

5.1.2016

Question for written answer E-000052-16
to the Commission
Rule 130
Miguel Viegas (GUE/NGL)

Rabies is one of the most deadly zoonoses. Every year it kills about 70 000 people worldwide, mostly children in developing countries. More than 95% of human rabies cases are caused by bites from infected dogs. In the EU only 10 out of the 28 Member States are rabies free. In May of last year rabies was diagnosed in a dog in the French department of Loire, a fact which shows that the disease is nowhere near to being eradicated in Europe.

Under European legislation all dogs and cats travelling from one Member State to another have to be identifiable by means of an electronic chip and vaccinated, and they must have a standard-form passport with the details filled in by a veterinary surgeon. As far as land borders are concerned, there is no safeguard system serving to establish compliance with the legal requirements and prevent the rabies virus from spreading.

Will the Commission therefore take additional measures to deal with this situation, bearing in mind that people and animals are becoming increasingly more mobile within and outside the EU?