The upcoming European Parliament election (June
2009) will provide us with an opportunity to push
animal welfare toward the top of the political
agenda. Many voters will let their politicians'
views toward animal welfare determine who they
will decide to support in the election. This is
why Eurogroup for Animals has proposed to all
political parties to integrate our five main objectives
into their policy programme for the 2009-2014
Parliament:
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1. Improve farm
animal welfare
Policies to promote better welfare should
be adopted while those that are harmful
to animals should be reformed.
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2. Reduce animal
experiments
The number of animals used in testing is
set to increase with millions in the coming
years, so more research is needed to replace
animal tests routinely conducted to meet
EU legislative requirements.
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3. Protect pets
Increased trade has led to more animals
being moved, which not only affects their
welfare but also increases the risk of diseases
spreading to animals and humans.
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4. Conserve and
respect wildlife
The protection of species goes beyond national
borders. The EU needs to introduce stricter
protection for domestic and exotic wild
animals.
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5. Implement and
enforce legislation
Member states, industry or even the European
Commission all sometimes try to introduce
delays to legislation or simply fail to
implement it on time or in the correct manner.
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In the coming five years we expect
there to be crucial animal welfare related developments
taking place within the sphere of the EU, such
as the review of the Common Agricultural Policy,
the ban on battery cages, the ban on individual
sow stalls, and a ban on the marketing of cosmetics
tested of animals. As a democratic supervisor,
the European Parliament has a unique role to play
in scrutinising the development and implementation
of new legislation. The newly elected MEPs will
thus have to carry great responsibility to ensure
that only animal-friendly legislation is passed.
Eurogroup's members have been busy evaluating the track record of current MEPs and talking to new candidate MEPs so as to persuade them to include animal welfare demands in their manifestos.
Our members have also done their best to help voters make the right decision for the animals when going to vote by organising debates and setting up information campaigns and websites.
To have an idea of the variety of election related activities our members have undertaken, visit the links to your right.
