Severe violations in the transportation of animals to third countries
29.11.2018
Question for oral answer O-000136/2018
to the Commission
Rule 128
Anja Hazekamp, Stelios Kouloglou, Marisa Matias, Gabriele Zimmer, Lynn Boylan, Merja Kyllönen, Neoklis Sylikiotis, Sabine Lösing, Sofia Sakorafa, Tania González Peñas, Takis Hadjigeorgiou, Younous Omarjee, Stefan Eck, Estefanía Torres Martínez, Helmut Scholz, Maria Lidia Senra Rodríguez, Anne-Marie Mineur, Javier Couso Permuy
on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group
John Flack, Bart Staes, Keith Taylor, Tilly Metz, Fabio Massimo Castaldo, Maria Noichl, Pascal Durand, Eleonora Evi, Jan Huitema, Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy
Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 lays down the provisions for the protection of the welfare of animals during transport within the European Union. In 2015, the European Court of Justice ruled that the provisions of this regulation should also apply to the transport of live animals from the EU to a third country, thus including the part of the journey taking place outside the EU[1].
In the past few years, NGOs have repeatedly collected evidence of severe and recurrent structural violations during the transport of live animals within and outside the EU. These investigations consistently demonstrated significant infringements of Regulation No 1/2005. The most recent evidence showed animals being transported while outside temperatures were upwards of 30 degrees, packed into overcrowded trucks without food and water, and suffering from heat stress and exhaustion. During the loading of a livestock vessel in Raša, Croatia, a bull was pulled out of the water, hung up on his leg and forced to board the ship, despite clearly being unfit for transport[2].
1. Can the Commission provide evidence for the claim it made in a letter of 31 May 2018 that ‘the level of compliance with the Transport Regulation has increased in the last two years and the rate of compliance when the animals cross the EU border is very close to 100%’, and can it explain the discrepancies between this and the horrifying evidence collected by NGOs?
2. Does the Commission agree that if the Member States are not able to guarantee that the transport of live animals from the EU to third countries complies with the provisions of Regulation No 1/2005, the export of live animals to third countries should be banned?
3. Does the Commission agree that ports at which serious infringements have been observed while exporting live animals should under no circumstances receive any EU funding to continue or expand their activities?
Tabled: 29.11.2018
Forwarded: 3.12.2018
Deadline for reply: 10.12.2018