EU funds used for a tourist resort in illegal possession of a lion in Kosovo
13.11.2020
Question for written answer E-006191/2020
to the Commission
Rule 138
Viola Von Cramon-Taubadel (Verts/ALE)
In November 2019, animal welfare organisation Four Paws was made aware of a lion being kept illegally at the Maja e Zezë Resort in Kosovo. The lion was brought into Kosovo without the permission of the Kosovo Customs Authorities or the Kosovo Food and Veterinary Agency. The authorities later seized the lion, but it is still being kept in the resort because a solution has not yet been found. In March 2020, the EU office in Kosovo informed Four Paws that the resort had received EU funding, as part of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) Cross-border Cooperation Programme between Kosovo and North Macedonia in 2019, to purchase the metal fences for the enclosure where the lion is being illegally kept.
- 1.Does the Commission agree that public funds should not be used to finance projects related to illegal wild animal trade and keeping?
- 2.Does it agree that this type of funding contradicts the EU’s commitment to combating illegal wildlife trade?
- 3.Will the EU cooperate with the Kosovo authorities to find a long-term solution to end the illegal keeping of the lion at the Maja e Zezë Resort and to prevent the illegal trade and keeping of other wild animals in Kosovo in the future?