The UK voted 2 years ago to get out of the EU and take back control of its own future.
With the possibility of a deal now on the table (13/11/18) I though it may be a good time to look a little more at ‘EU departments’ and to question if the EU citizen is really getting a good deal for what (their) nation contributes to the EU.
Here is a formal list of the biggest to smallest contributors to the EU:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/316691/european-union-eu-budget-share-of-contributions/
UK – 13.5% – compared to Germany 19% and France 16.6%. The 3 biggest contributors.
Move down to the other end and we see Luxembourg 0.25%, Bulgaria 0.34% and Romania 1.15%. All percentages can be seen on the above link.
So, what do we get for this ?
We (as an organisation) have over 27 years worth of experience in live animals being transported around the EU and via our sister organisation ‘Serbian Animals Voice’ https://serbiananimalsvoice.com/ around 14 years of experience dealing with stray animal welfare in Serbia – not currently an EU member state, but a ‘Candidate Country’ to join.
With our experience we have written and produced a large amount of letters and questions to the EU over the years; especially (for live transport) the Health and Food Safety Commission (DG SANTE) and for Serbia animal welfare, the EU Enlargement Commission to express our concerns before the EU door is opened up to Serbia.
DG has bothered to contact us at the odd interval; but the Enlargement Commission has never really bothered despite all our evidence abut non compliance with the EU’s very own ‘Rule of Law’ (Copenhagen agreement).
So, anyway, here is a formal listing of the EU Departments and Executive Agencies which ‘control’ the day to day operations at EU HQ.
Link – https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments_en – this is from ‘Europa’; the formal site of the EU.
We see they list no less than 53 agencies and departments. So lets go a little deeper regarding live animal transport and Serbia. Live animals transport comes under ‘Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) – and here is the link to their site from the above listing:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/health-and-food-safety_en
From the link you can see the leadership and organisation; but then go a little deeper. Below Martin Seychell you can download the organisation chart of just this Commission – here is the link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/organisation_charts/organisation-chart-dg-sante_en.pdf
7 main departments (A to G); each with a head; and then each department being sub divided into different organisations – approximately 34 at our count; each having ?? number of employees. On its own site, the FVO http://ec.europa.eu/food/fvo/how_en.print.htm ; part of the Health and Consumers Directorate-General; says that it has at least 170 employees. The FVO and the DG SANTE are really responsible for undertaking EU legislation compliance with EU regulations in all member states. They do not and it does not work.
Moving on to Serbia and its application to join the EU; this is undertaken via the European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations which are headed by Commissioner Hahn – Link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/european-neighbourhood-policy-and-enlargement-negotiations_en
Here is a link to all the major persons (but not all staff) associated with this Commission – https://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/european-neighbourhood-policy-and-enlargement-negotiations_en#leadership
And here is an organisational chart of the structure: https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/sites/near/files/near-org-chart.pdf
42 departments or more; each with staff and people working for them.
So by giving a little insight into just 2 of the 53 EU Departments and Executive Agencies that combine to produce the mighty EU machine; one would think that this; which does not even start to include MEP’s – http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20130610IPR11414/elections-2014-share-out-of-meps-seats-among-28-eu-countries – one would think that issues such as live animal transport and stray animal management could be undertaken by such a huge amount of staff.
Experience in both theatres of live transport and Serbian animal welfare show us there is NO REAL CONCERN at EU level. Surely, paying all this money to the EU as taxpayers (UK – Mark) and (Germany – Venus); are we not right to ask exactly what the 2 sections of 53 are doing for issues that concern us ?
No; the EU does not want to know; instead it works to punish the UK for voting to leave the club and taking back control. Other member states all seem happy to continue contributing finances as shown above; for getting what exactly in return ?
The EU system does not work. It employs thousands and has a great website, but the reality is it does very little; if anything; to address the concerns of EU citizens over such important issues as live animal transport enforcement.
Still want to be an EU member state ? the facts are above – you decide if it is financially worth it for very little return.
Regards Mark.
World Animals Voice 