Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-12-Speech-1-131"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20011112.11.1-131"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the report of the Committee on the Transport of Animals, which is under discussion this evening, has borne out what is repeatedly seen on television: the brutal way that animals are treated, the disregard of limits on journey times, the overloading of vehicles and many other breaches of current regulations on the transport of animals, none of which has been an infrequent occurrence. This situation is no longer tolerable, and the European public is right to demand speedy measures to remedy it.
I must, though, say quite clearly that European regulations on the transport of animals, when correctly enforced, already guarantee a high degree of protection to animals. As the Committee highlights in its report, the fundamental problem is that the regulations currently in force are applied only very inadequately in most of the Member States. Quite apart from the difficulty of transposing the directive into national law, this is attributable above all to Member States' defective control procedures and the far too weak sanctions imposed when breaches are discovered. Criticism arising out of these problems should therefore be directed mainly at the Member States. In my opinion, the Community control policy needs a thorough re-think here, as comparable problems exist in other areas of veterinary control.
I would like, though, to enlarge on two further points. The abolition of export refunds for animals for slaughter, contained in this resolution, was decided on by Parliament in the course of the 2002 Budget procedure and has long been demanded by Social Democrats. In the past, Parliament has already given financially preferential treatment to meat as opposed to livestock for slaughter in paying export refunds, in order to remove the economic incentive from the export of live animals. At present, then, only about one-half in export refund is paid for livestock in comparison with meat. Even that, though, is not yet enough, and export refunds for animals for slaughter should be reduced to zero.
The other point I would like to make is that the proposal for a resolution calls for a maximum transport time of 8 hours for animals intended for slaughter, and that, too, is an old demand from the Social Democrats. There is to be no general maximum journey time, and prime consideration was given to the situation of remote regions and islands. Here, too, there will be limited exceptions to the rules on maximum journey time, which we greatly welcome.
In conclusion, I would like, on behalf of the Social Democrat Group, to thank Mr Maat for the constructive work we have done together, and I believe it will continue in future."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples