Failure by Spain to enforce the directive on pig welfare

23.10.2013

Question for written answer E-012150-13
to the Commission
Rule 117
Raül Romeva i Rueda (Verts/ALE) , Dan Jørgensen (S&D) , Carl Schlyter (Verts/ALE) , Iñaki Irazabalbeitia Fernández (Verts/ALE) , Keith Taylor (Verts/ALE)

Council Directive 2008/120/EC stipulates that sows and gilts must have permanent access to manipulable material at least complying with the relevant requirements of Annex I to the directive. It also prohibits routine tail-docking.

In 2008 Compassion in World Farming visited eleven pig farms in Spain. None of the farms provided enrichment materials and a significant number of tail-docked pigs were found in all eleven farms. These findings were passed on to the Spanish authorities and the Commission. In 2013 Compassion in World Farming returned to Spain and visited nine pig farms. None of these farms provided enrichment materials and all the pigs seen in all nine farms had had their tails docked. There has been no improvement in the level of compliance in Spanish pig farms since the investigation in 2008. These new findings have once again been passed on to the Spanish authorities and the Commission.

Has the Commission written to the Spanish authorities and impressed on them the need to improve compliance with these provisions?

OJ C 230, 17/07/2014