Europe’s farm leaders have moved quickly to have their say on the setting up of a new EU animal welfare platform, urging member state farm ministers to ensure the final package is “simplified and better enforced” rather than merely leading to the creation new legislation.
Responding to yesterday’s animal welfare debate by EU farm ministers, Copa-cogeca secretary-general Pekka Pesonen stressed that the focus must be on ensuring the proper implementation and harmonisation of existing EU rules and not new legislation.
He called for the proposed platform to give more flexibility to operators, and to reduce the high administrative costs they currently suffer.
“We also want to highlight that farmers, together with other stakeholders, are already putting in place voluntary initiatives to improve animal welfare during transport to help economic operators in the sector assure an even higher level of animal welfare,” said Mr Pesonen.
“I also welcome the concerns expressed by some farm ministers (yesterday) about the lower welfare standards outside the EU and imports coming into the EU that do not have to meet the EU’s high and costly standards.”