MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on animal welfare
24.11.2015 - (2015/2957(RSP))
pursuant to Rule 128(5) of the Rules of Procedure
Marco Zullo, Marco Affronte, Eleonora Evi, Fabio Massimo Castaldo, Isabella Adinolfi on behalf of the EFDD Group
The European Parliament,
– having regard to Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which lays down that the Union and the Member States shall, since animals are sentient beings, pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals, while respecting the legislative or administrative provisions and customs of the Member States relating in particular to religious rites, cultural traditions and regional heritage,
– having regard to Article 43 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union on the functioning of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy,
– having regard to Article 168(4)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union on measures in the veterinary and phytosanitary fields which have the protection of public health as their direct objective,
– having regard to its resolution of 4 July 2012 on the European Union Strategy for the Protection and Welfare of Animals 2012-2015[1],
– having regard to Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes (the Animal Testing Directive)[2],
– having regard to the Commission communication of 15 November 2011 on an action plan against the rising threats from Antimicrobial Resistance (COM(2011)0748),
– having regard to its resolution of 12 December 2012 on the protection of animals during transport[3],
– having regard to its declaration of 15 March 2012 on the establishment of a maximum 8-hour journey limit for animals transported in the European Union for the purpose of being slaughtered[4],
– having regard to the Wildlife Trade Regulations, including Council Regulation (EC) No 338/97[5] and Commission Regulation (EC) No 865/2006[6],
– having regard to Regulation (EU) No 576/2013 on the non-commercial movement of pet animals[7],
– having regard to Council Directive 1999/22/EC relating to the keeping of wild animals in zoos[8],
– having regard to the Commission communication of 7 February 2014 on the EU Approach against Wildlife Trafficking (COM(2014)0064),
– having regard to the question to the Commission on a new animal welfare strategy for 2016-2020 (O-000141/2015 – B8-1107/2015),
– having regard to Rule 128(5) and 123(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas existing Union legislation concerning animal health and welfare fails to regard animals as sentient beings, in accordance with Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union;
B. whereas EU legislation in the field of animal welfare contributes to a level playing field within the Union and thereby to a well-functioning internal market;
C. whereas ongoing and specific animal welfare problems, relating not only to livestock production in the farming sector, but also to other sectors, such as those concerning companion animals, equines, exotics and other animals kept or traded in the context of an economic activity, should be solved at EU level;
D. whereas animal welfare should be further improved on the basis of prevailing scientific findings and with due regard for the efficiency and competitiveness of agricultural livestock husbandry;
E. whereas circuses have been explicitly excluded from the scope of Directive 1999/22/EC, making the conditions under which animals are kept a matter of national competence;
F. whereas animal welfare is closely interrelated with animal and public health;
G. whereas the increasing number of exotic animals kept as pets could result in the increased spread of contagious diseases to domestic animals and, at the same time, have an adverse effect on public health, animal health and animal welfare; whereas exotic animals or plants may escape and spread as invasive alien species, threatening local species and habitats and causing huge socioeconomic damage;
H. whereas, owing to their complexity and differing interpretations, EU and national rules on animal welfare create legal uncertainty and can put producers in certain Member States at a serious competitive disadvantage; whereas, with regard to the implementation of EU law, a lack of compliance, non-harmonised standards and the absence of legal milestones distorts competition and results in an uneven playing field;
I. whereas the proposed animal health law does not include a clear definition of ‘animal husbandry’, and whereas there might be a number of interpretations of the concept among the Member States;
J. whereas dogfighting still brings about the enormous suffering and death of hundreds of dogs across the Union;
K. whereas ill-treatment of dogs, including abandonment, is the cause of straying, and whereas this phenomenon is still of concern for some EU countries; whereas killing of stray dogs is still allowed with a view to preventing them from spreading further;
L. whereas many dolphinaria continue to operate in the EU, and whereas a misleading and counter-educational message is conveyed by the use, for amusement and commercial purposes, of animals scientifically proved to be intelligent, self-aware and highly social;
1. Urges the Commission to implement, without delay, the points outstanding from the European Union Strategy on the Protection and Welfare of Animals 2012-2015;
2. Recalls that Article 13 of the Treaty is of general application and horizontal, and as such is as important as the provisions on the environment or consumer protection and takes legal precedence over all internal market policies;
3. Notes that over 30 basic acts relating to animal welfare have been adopted over a period of more than 30 years, many of which offer varying levels of protection for animals; stresses that the majority of the existing acts fail to recognise animals sufficiently as sentient beings as required by Article 13 of the Treaty;
4. Expresses its concern about the effective implementation and enforcement of current EU legislation relating to the welfare of animals;
5. Notes that only 9 of the 19 actions contained in the European Union Strategy on the Protection and Welfare of Animals 2012-2015 have so far been implemented by the Commission;
6. Seeks reassurance that any harmonisation of the legislative framework will not lead to a decline in animal welfare standards or a lowering of ambitions to improve animal welfare, and calls on the Commission to enhance existing standards on the basis of updated scientific findings and with a view to international trade negotiations with third countries where there is not the same level of protection;
7. Calls on the Commission to review the existing rules on the protection of animals during live commercial transportation, in line with Parliament’s resolution on the protection of animals during transport and its declaration of 15 March 2012; calls on the Commission to provide clear guidance to the competent authorities on the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 following the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Case C-424/13;
8. Calls on the Commission to adopt delegated legislation with a view to harmonising identification and registration requirements for animals that are kept or traded in the context of an economic activity or show, particularly in the case of dogs, cats, equines and exotic pets;
9. Calls on the Commission to commit to funding alternative non-animal testing methods through new and existing funding schemes such as Horizon 2020 and the Innovative Medicines Initiative in order to avoid severe and prolonged suffering for animals and to phase out animal testing as soon as possible, as called for by the 1.17 million citizens who signed the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Stop Vivisection’;
10. Calls on the Commission to harmonise the existing legislation in 18 Member States restricting the use of wild animals in circuses, adopting an EU-wide ban on wild animals in circuses;
11. Calls on the Commission to adopt an EU-wide ban on any traditional or cultural use of animals that implies mistreatment and suffering;
12. Calls on the Commission to restrict and gradually phase out the use of animals in captivity in commercial and amusement parks where species which are scientifically proved to be intelligent, self-aware and highly social are involved;
13. Calls on the Commission to use new EU reference centres for animal welfare to aid with the implementation of existing rules by disseminating information and sharing best practice and providing training for competent authorities, and to implement the use of validated animal welfare indicators;
14. Calls on the Commission to empower and protect citizens by providing consumer guidance related to the buying, sale, rehoming and husbandry of animals that are kept or traded in the context of an economic activity, particularly with regard to dogs, cats, exotic animals and equines;
15. Urges the Commission to empower consumers by extending the rules relating to the labelling of fresh and frozen meat by country of origin to fresh and frozen meat from equines and to all processed meat-derived products; urges the Commission to undertake an impact assessment on a mandatory method of labelling for meat and dairy products;
16. Calls on the Commission to ensure that the common agricultural policy fully recognises animal sentience and holistically addresses environmental and public health challenges associated with poor welfare practices; calls on the Commission to support the development of a new sustainable food policy that recognises the improvement of farm animal welfare in conjunction with the uptake of plant-based foods and consumption;
17. Urges the Commission, when negotiating bilateral trade agreements with third countries, to require third countries to comply with European animal welfare rules when exporting both livestock and animal products to the Union market;
18. Urges the Commission to recognise animal welfare as a driver of economic development; calls on the Commission to reward good animal welfare outcomes by means of development aid to third countries;
19. Calls for the establishment of a horizontal, Commission-wide, permanent platform for animal welfare to better facilitate cooperation, provide a focus on animal welfare challenges and promote interaction with stakeholders, including civil society;
20. Calls on the Commission to include paragraphs 6-28 within a new European Union Strategy on the Protection and Welfare of Animals for 2016-2020;
21. Supports the principle of labelling food products that comply with animal welfare standards which are more stringent than those required by law; calls on the Commission to build on its report COM(2009)0584 by coming forward with legislative proposals on EU-wide labelling schemes for meat and dairy products and where eggs have been used in processed products, thereby informing consumers about the farming methods used and their impact on the welfare of animals, in order to communicate with consumers as effectively and consistently as possible;
22. Calls on the Commission to strengthen the coordination and promotion of the development and use of alternatives to animal procedures in the areas of basic and applied research and regulatory testing, as described in Annex VII to Directive 2010/63/EU, by actively supporting the relevant strategy-setting and research functions of the EU Reference Laboratory (the Joint Research Centre) with the aim of identifying priority areas for replacement of animal research techniques;
23. Urges the Council to guarantee a substantial improvement in animal welfare through rural development, in particular by providing for adequate funding for the animal welfare payment and ensuring that all rural development programmes for the period 2014-2020 include the animal welfare measure;
24. Calls on the Commission to put forward a legislative proposal to ban dogfighting in the EU;
25. Calls on the Commission to put forward a legislative proposal to ban the killing of stray and feral dogs across the EU and to promote alternative, cruelty-free methods for animal population control;
26. Urges the Commission and the Member States to supplement Regulation (EU) 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2014 on the prevention and management of the introduction and spread of invasive alien species with an information and education campaign aimed at discouraging people from purchasing exotic animal and plant species;
27. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to include alternative, animal-free testing methods in official learning programmes at university level;
28. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission.