https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/02/29/lithuania-poland-croatia-slovenia-israeljourney-to-death/
Supposedly – The ruling of the European Court of Justice in April 2015 clearly defines the legal situation: “EU Animal Welfare Ordinance No. 1/2005 must be complied with until the animals’ final destination, even if it is outside the EU.”
The Reality is: The violation of the animal transport law is the rule in the EU and not the exception.
WAV Comment – The crap legislators at the EU have the audacity to say that there will be no access for the UK if ‘animal welfare standards are not protected’ !!
Watch the videos in the above links and see how the EU ‘protects it animals during transport; farming; foie gras production etc’. The EU is filth; and don’t ever take them as being any other way.
From day 1 when the UK voted to leave the EU, the EU has tried everything in its power to make things extra difficult. Now we read here from the Eurogroup that the European Parliament declares that there should be no access for GB if animal welfare standards are not protected.
The UK is a world leader in animal welfare. She has used her position in the EU to influence animal protection policy in the largest trading bloc in the world. For instance, the UK was the driving force behind Article 13 of the Treaty of Lisbon, which recognises animals as sentient beings. Based on the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU and member states must pay full regard to the welfare of animals when formulating and implementing policy. By ‘must pay’ simply read ‘ignore’; because that is the reality.
‘Brexit: getting the best deal for animals’ is a wide-ranging report published by the Wildlife and Countryside Link (Link) and the UK Centre for Animal Law (A-Law). The report is a product of a large coalition of leading UK animal protection NGOs including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), World Animal Protection (WAP) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). The report describes how Brexit presents a major juncture in the history of UK animal protection:
‘As the UK prepares to leave the EU (it has now left), the welfare of animals is at a critical crossroads and selecting the route ahead will determine the welfare of billions of animals. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to either define or undermine our country’s identity and reputation as a global leader in animal welfare science and standards’.
Lets look at this again – ‘no access for GB if animal welfare standards are not protected’. So the EU is saying that the UK does not meet its ‘standards’ ?- lets see; That is the EU standards which include.
Exporting live animals
The EU allegedly puts a number of restrictions (Regulation 1/2005) on exporting live animals for slaughter or further fattening, such as ensuring adequate space, and providing food, water and rest, which all EU member states are supposed to abide by; but simply don’t (see video footage in above links). As we have shown so many times on WAV; the ‘protection’ of live animals transported across the EU – Reg 1/2005 is a complete and utter joke.. The regulations were implemented into the UK (by legislation) in 2007.
Member countries are allegedly entitled to take stricter measures, if they wish – the EU welfare standards are supposedly a minimum all countries have to follow, but do not. Again, watch the videos above to see non compliances.
If the UK wanted to put further restrictions on live animal exports Reg 1/2005, it could do so while it was still in the EU.
But if it (UK) wanted to fully ban live animal exports whilst a member state of the EU, it would not be allowed to do so under the current EU single market rules. But now (2020) free from the shackles of the EU; the UK is free to; and will, ban the export of live animals.
After the UK leaves the EU, which it has now done; a ban on the export of live animals could still be challenged under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.
Export bans are prohibited by the WTO, but bans that protect endangered species and animal welfare, including ensuring that animals are not killed inhumanely, are allowed. So, there is a basis for challenging a ban under WTO, but there would also be a basis for defending it.
There is a private member’s bill being put forward by (UK) Conservative MP Theresa Villiers that would ban live exports “for slaughter or fattening, and for connected purposes”, but it stands little chance of becoming law without government support. But now (in 2020) the government has 80+ MP’s majority; to support votes in Parliament; there is little doubt that this ban would be voted through.
Animal welfare standards
The EU has a wide range of animal welfare laws the UK has had to abide by. These include consumer-information law, such as the labelling of eggs from battery hens.
It also regulates the use of animals in research, and it bans cosmetics tested on animals.
On top of these laws, individual countries can set their own animal welfare standards as long as they do not affect the operation of the EU’s single market (in the UK, the issue is devolved).
For example, the UK, as well as most other EU countries, has domestic legislation that prohibits production of foie gras on animal welfare grounds.
Belgium, France, Hungary, Spain and Bulgaria do not prohibit the production and under the EU principle of free movement of goods, the UK was in the position that as an EU member state; it was unable to ban the import of foie gras
As a (now) non EU member, it can now ban the import of foie gras into the UK.
Exploitative trade in pets
The UK government says EU rules on the pet travel scheme restrict the UK’s ability to crack down on puppy smuggling.
The EU pet travel scheme enables the owners of dogs, cats and ferrets to move freely between EU countries with their pets, providing their pet is micro-chipped, has a pet passport, has been vaccinated against rabies and, in the case of dogs, treated for tapeworm.
Pets have to be at least 15 weeks of age before they can travel, and one person can travel with up to five pets.
Pet passports are issued by EU countries and a short list of other countries such as Norway, Iceland and Switzerland.
However, the UK charity Dogs Trust, in its report on puppy smuggling, says the EU pet travel scheme is abused by gangs in Hungary, Poland, Lithuania and elsewhere, who take puppies as young as four weeks from their mothers and transport them hundreds of miles in poor conditions to British ports, often with little food and water, to be sold in the UK.
The UK has been a particularly attractive target for EU puppy smugglers because of the relatively high prices that some breeds command. Outside the EU membership, though, it (UK) could also introduce stricter rules for importing puppies from other EU member states
Now the UK has left the EU; it can make parliamentary changes to resolve the smuggling.
So much then for the EU telling the UK that it needs to step up to the EU plate with regard animal welfare.
As an organisation partly based in the UK (England); we take this EU statement as a complete and utter insult. When the EU enforces all the un enforced activities which are shown in the above video links, then they can talk. Until then, we kindly suggest the EU shuts its mouth and continues to do what it does best – which is nothing apart from writing pathetic regulations on bits of paper; which in reality, it never enforces !
Don’t tell the UK to get better; it is already a lot better than most other member states of the EU when it comes to animal welfare legislation enforcement. It is not perfect; nobody is, but at least we in the UK do not have the situation of the arsonist as the head of the fire brigade !
Only in meat mafia world; the EU, does this happen continually.
https://worldanimalsvoice.com/2020/02/26/eu-eu-spending-tens-of-millions-of-euros-a-year-to-promote-meat-eating-despite-all-the-evidence-against-it/ –
Battles on the sidewalk in a small town: The picture was taken just before Christmas 2017 in southern Romania. Image rights: Annett Müller-Heinze / MDR
Home slaughter in Transylvania, 2013. Image rights: Annett Müller-Heinze
World Animals Voice 