Jessika Van Leeuwen (PPE). – Madam President, and welcome back to you, Commissioner, good to see you back. I'm happy to hear you talk about balancing competitiveness while also improving animal welfare.

We have the highest animal welfare standards in the world within the EU. I'm happy to hear that when we're talking about Mercosur, the left side is defending our animal welfare levels in the EU. Interestingly, in this debate, they're questioning that same high level of animal welfare. So that's a very interesting aspect here, because it doesn't seem to be very consistent.

Of course, we do need to protect our farmers from unfair competition. We've seen the farmers – the French and German farmers – here today outside. But we also need to maintain competitiveness. We do not need more rules, Commissioner. We actually need to harmonise what we are doing inside the European Union, and we need to help Member States reach that same level of high animal welfare. Because yes, we want to improve animal welfare, but we also need to reward Member States that have already reached that high level of animal welfare.

Then, with regards to the Animal Transport Regulation, good intentions of improving animal welfare do not relieve the Commission from the obligation to make sound legislation which is based on science and also maintains the balance with our competitiveness. We are ready to work with you, Commissioner.