26 May 2009

With just two more weeks to go until the European Parliament elections, Europe’s animal welfare organisations are stepping up their campaigns to help voters to make the right choice for animals at the polling stations.

Building on the impetus of Eurogroup’s election campaign, which centres around our Five-Point Elections Manifesto, member organisations have been preparing for the big vote by organising meetings with candidate MEPs, debates between the public and candidates and also setting up websites that evaluate the track record of present MEPs. These events and information tools now allow EU citizens around the continent to see if their MEPs worked to protect animals over the past legislative period (2004-2009) or worked against our efforts.Question & Answer sessions with prospective MEPs also reveal their commitment to improving animal welfare should they be elected. Click here to learn more about our members' recent efforts.

Looking to the future, Eurogroup has managed to ensure that all but one EU political group has included animal welfare in their party manifestos. The only political group not to include animal welfare is the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR). Eurogroup’s members have spoken to a large number of their candidates, so voters are invited to have a look at what their candidate MEPs have to say about animal welfare issues and, hopefully, take this into account when heading for the polling stations.

14 May 2009

Many EU zoos have yet to fully implement European rules on the keeping of wild animals in zoos and national authorities are still failing to enforce legislation on zoo keeping. These are the main conclusions of a new report by Eurogroup For Animals on the enforcement of the EU Zoo Directive.

Eurogroup For Animals has been continuously monitoring the enforcement of EU legislation on zoos across Europe, and this report – presented to the European Commission last month – serves as a reminder that EU countries need to do substantially more to ensure the safekeeping and care of animals kept in zoos.

The report highlights, among other issues, a general lack of information provided by authorities, the lack of resources allocated to licensing and inspections of zoos and a failure to establish clear guidelines for their scientific and educational activities.

The European Commission’s Environment Directorate currently only monitors the implementation of the legislation in an informal way, by processing the data and information provided by various stakeholders, such as Eurogroup.

Eurogroup For Animals now calls on the next EU Environment Commissioner to conduct a formal evaluation of the Zoo Directive implementation that includes stakeholder participation.

5 May 2009

The European Parliament has today voted on the proposal for the revision of the EU’s outdated 1986 Directive on the protection of animals for scientific purposes.

MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of better protection for lab animals, but have disappointed animal welfare supporters as MEPs also chose not to take this opportunity to take the revised Directive further and thereby guarantee the EU’s position as world leader in the use of alternatives to animal testing.

Positive outcomes to the vote include support that is to be given for the development of alternatives to animal experiments, and the promotion of alternatives in education and training. Eurogroup For Animals is, however, disappointed that MEPs did not allow for the inclusion of amendments that would have ensured the phasing out of the use of wild-caught primates. They also weakened the proposed rules for the authorisation of procedures that involve animal testing.

Sonja Van Tichelen, Director of Eurogroup For Animals, sees the decision as a step forward but a missed opportunity: “What we need is a U-turn in research to drastically reduce and finally replace the use of animals. For this, we need a different mindset and an overarching European strategy on animal testing with clear targets, replacing the most controversial tests such as those that make use of primates. This law, by itself, will not be sufficient but it will provide an adequate starting point.”

4 May 2009

This week, the European Parliament will be voting on three very important animal welfare dossiers. The last plenary session of this Parliament's mandate will vote on the revised rules for the protection of laboratory animals, revised rules for the protection of animals during killing and the EU ban on trade in seal products.

Animal welfare organisations across the world thus have their eyes fixed on Strasbourg this week, as they and millions of animal welfare supporters now look to MEPs to vote to increase the protection of animals and ultimately persuade EU citizens, in turn, to vote in their favour at the EU Parliament elections in just a month's time.

Eurogroup asks MEPs to support our amendments to the animal experimentation and slaughter proposal and to vote in support of a ban on the trade in seal products.

21 April 2009

Eurogroup For Animals has written to the European Commission to express our concerns over the half-hearted approach adopted by the EU’s institutions in their plans for the creation of new rules aimed at improving the welfare of animals during transport.

The reason behind our concerns is the fact that the current proposal includes provisions we believe will seriously weaken the protection of transported animals by not imposing appropriate measures or including clear specifications. Although we welcome the Commission’s proposal to restrict the transport of animals sent to the slaughterhouse to nine hours, the text allows for an unrestricted number of exemptions that may be granted by member states. The very imprecise definition of “slaughter animals” will also allow transporters to avoid journey time restrictions: if they say the animals are being transported for further fattening, they will be able to transport them longer.

Eurogroup is also concerned that the text does not make reference to a legal basis for real time checks on transport movements via a global positioning unit – a clear necessity if the proposed regulation is to be properly enforced.
By sending this letter, Eurogroup has now asked these concerns to be addressed by the Commission before the proposal is sent to the full College of Commissioners.

8 April 2009

The European Commission’s Fisheries Directorate has today presented a Communication on the EU’s aquaculture potential. Aquaculture or the farming of aquatic animals including fish and crustaceans and aquatic plants is a growing food sector in the EU and policy makers are looking to increase Europe’s competitiveness and sustainability.

Fish farming has numerous implications for animal welfare and this Communication recognises the importance of the welfare of farmed fish for the development of sustainable aquaculture.

Eurogroup welcomes this clear recognition of welfare concerns and is also pleased to see that the Commission plans to launch a project to evaluate fish welfare in aquaculture with a view to possibly introducing legislation on this topic.

1 April 2009

Eurogroup for Animals is deeply disappointed with the results of the vote of the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes yesterday afternoon.

The Agriculture Committee have adopted amendments that will remove important mechanisms for the protection of research animals from the proposed text drafted by the European Commission if these amendments are also adopted in plenary next month.

Some MEPs have even contradicted themselves by voting to make it easier to experiment on primates while they had previously (September 2008) adopted a resolution calling for non-human primate research to be phased out.

Eurogroup is particularly disappointed that the MEPs have allowed for tests to be carried out on animals that cause severe prolonged suffering. The authorisation procedure for determining what testing may be carried out has also been weakened.

Director of Eurogroup for Animals, Sonja Van Tichelen, is shocked to see the reluctance of some MEPs to improve the protection of research animals: "We will be working hard to inform the Members of Parliament about the impact of these amendments before they vote on this proposal in Plenary in May.
This is not a choice between science, the development of medicines or animals protection. It is about either choosing to take into account the values of a large majority of European citizens, or letting industry get away with unnecessarily using animals.
Our supporters, spread all over the EU, care deeply about this issue and will be watching closely to see how their MEPs will vote. With only a few weeks before the European elections, we will make sure this will be a key consideration for all animal welfare supporters when they cast their vote in June."

31 March 2009

This afternoon, an historic vote is to take place in the European Parliament's Agriculture Committee which will undoubtedly decide the fate of how laboratory animals are to be treated for years to come.

Twenty-three years after the introduction of the EU's directive for the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, the EU is finally revising the outdated rules that have determined how animal testing may be carried out. The Agriculture Committee is the lead committee in the Parliament's deliberations of the dossier and it will vote on the text that is sent to the Plenary in early May.

Eurogroup for Animals is concerned that the calls for the better protection for laboratory animals may be in vain as some MEPs have been tempted by the industry and research lobbies to water down the Commission proposal so as to keep animal testing as easy as possible. This would be in sharp contrast to the EU's firm stance dedicated to reducing the number of animals used and replacing animal test with alternatives.

Eurogroup urges the members of the Agriculture Committee to do the right thing by voting for amendments which will seriously reduce the number of animals to be used in research. These amendments will allow for the retaining of the quality of EU research and competitiveness, but will ensure better protection for animals and citizens alike.

25 March 2009

An overwhelming majority of Members of the European Parliament has today voted against the authorisation of food products from cloned animals and their offspring.
MEPs have made it clear that, instead of including rules on cloning for food production in the EU's pending novel foods regulation, they want a specific Commission proposal to prohibit cloning of animals for food and the import of such products.

Eurogroup for Animals welcomes the Parliament's call for a ban on the sale of food products from cloned animals and their offspring as cloned animals suffer from many defects and often die younger.

Last September, a parliamentary resolution called on the European Commission to ban cloning, but the Commission has been delaying action in the dossier for some time. Today's vote however carries more weight as the novel foods dossier is following the co-decision procedure, thereby giving the Parliament more power in deciding the ultimate outcome of the legislation.

Sonja Van Tichelen, director of Eurogroup, considers that the Commission is not respecting its own rules by delaying rules to ban the cloning of animals and by doing so the Commission is not only going against its own legal obligations, it is also ignoring the clear message sent by EU citizens: "It is unacceptable that with so many facts and figures against animal cloning, the European Commission has not yet taken the decision to ban it. By not banning cloning for food production the Commission is telling its citizens that it finds trade concerns more important than animal suffering and the concerns of its citizens."