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Subject: Summary of the plenary session of the European Parliament held in Strasbourg on 5 May 2009 Report: Janusz Wojciechowski - Protection of animals at the time of killing [COM(2008)0553 - 13312/08 - 2008/0180(CNS)] Mr WOJCIECHOWSKI (UEN, PL) stated that it was possible to protect animals even when killing
them, namely by eliminating unnecessary suffering. He welcomed the Commission proposal as a
step forward to the right direction. The introduction of an animal welfare officer was also a step
forward which merited support. Concerning the controversial issue of ritual slaughter, he agreed
with the Commission proposal to allow for exceptions from the obligation of stunning prior to
slaughter. He was in favour of national reference units, which had been rejected by the AGRI
Committee. Imported meat should also be required to follow the same standards as those valid
within the EU.
For the Commission, Commissioner VASSILIOU delivered the speech set out in the Annex.
For the ENVI Committee, Mr HOLM (GUE/NGL, SE) considered the Commission proposal to be
one step forward, which had to be improved on in many areas. The ENVI Committee suggested, in
particular, a shorter transport time to the slaughterhouses, the introduction of mobile
slaughterhouses and the possibility of introducing more stringent national rules on slaughtering. The
national reference centres should also be independent, and their competence should be strengthened.
Member States should be allowed to continue a full ban on slaughtering without stunning, as was
the case for Sweden.
For the political groups, the following speakers took the floor:
For Mr SANZARELLO (PPE-DE, IT), the AGRI Committee had done a successful job of in
improving the text. It was important to ensure protection for religious practices.
Ms MIGUÉLEZ RAMOS (PSE, ES) observed that the existing directive had become obsolete as a
result of technical progress. The proposal would create a level playing field for competition. She
was opposed to amending the animal transport provisions and to the creation of national reference
centres. This responsibility should be left to the competent authority under national law.
Mr PODKASKI (UEN, PL) emphasised that the report also concerned the question of breaking
with tradition. The report addressed some questions, but failed to resolve other issues, in particular
that of ritual slaughtering.
For Mr SMITH (Verts, UK), it was a crucial element of fairness that imported meat had to be
slaughtered following the same standards as those valid within the EU. The proportionality of the
new rules, in particular for smaller slaughterhouses, should be taken into account. Concerning
religious slaughter, he agreed with the Commission proposal not to regulate it.
Among the individual speakers who took the floor, Mr PARISH (PPE-DE, UK) and
Mr MATSAKIS (ALDE, CY) were opposed to exceptions for religious slaughtering, Ms PETRE
(PPE-DE, RO) was in favour of them. In the case also of private consumption on certain occasions
such as Easter and Christmas. Mr GRAEFE ZU BARINGDORF (Verts, DE) remarked that the
question of animal protection was too focused on stunning, which had been introduced not for
animal protection, but because the stress suffered by animals during the modern mass slaughtering
process would have degraded the quality of their meat. Animal welfare also included the question of
treatment during transport and while animals were being held in slaughterhouses.
For the Commission, Ms VASSILIOU observed that the debate reflected the concerns of the
Parliament and the Commission, but also of the public, with regard to animal welfare. She invited
the Parliament to support the proposal, which would send a signal to the public that Europe was
addressing its concerns.
Mr WOJCIECHOWSKI (UEN, PL) welcomed the fact that a majority of colleagues supported the
proposal. He considered that proper financing was necessary to support animal welfare, including
funding by the European Union. Furthermore, the higher standards should not worsen the
competitive situation of EU producers.
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ANNEX
Speech by Ms Androulla VASSILIOU, Member of the Commission
before the European Parliament
Strasbourg, 5 May 2009
Mr President, I would like to thank the European Parliament and in particular the rapporteur, Mr
Wojciechowski, for having supported the main elements of the Commission proposal on the
protection of animals at the time of killing.
In particular, I am pleased that the European Parliament accepted the general approach of the
proposal, which is to ensure the animal welfare legislation applicable to slaughterhouses is in line
with the hygiene package which was adopted back in 2004.
The current legislation on the protection of animals at slaughter dates back to 1993 and is clearly
not in line with the latest developments in the areas of food safety, animal health and animal
welfare. Under the current proposal, slaughterhouse operators will have to establish standard
operating procedures, rely on welfare indicators for stunning, and personnel will have to receive
training on animal welfare.
On the issue of religious slaughter, I would like to stress that the Commission fully shares the
attachment of the European Parliament to freedom of religion and to underline that the
Commission's intention is to maintain the status quo on this sensitive matter. The Treaty clearly
states the need to take into account practices related to religion in the formulation of Community
policy. It is clear that there are many different practices regarding religious slaughter across the
Member States of the Union.
The Commission suggests that subsidiarity should be maintained in this area. It has worked well for
the past 15 years and should continue to work well in the future. In this respect, we can accept in
principle, subject to rewording, amendments that reflect the approach of the current legislation,
which preserves the right of freedom of religion while allowing Member States to adopt or maintain
stricter rules. In this regard, I would note that there seems to be agreement in Council along these
lines.
I would now like to say a few words on the practice of backyard slaughter. Today, the slaughter of
animals for private consumption is permitted outside slaughterhouses (except cattle), but pigs,
sheep and goats must have previously been stunned. Some citizens in the Member States
traditionally slaughter pigs for Christmas and lambs for Easter. The preservation of these traditions
is important to the Commission but there is no need to derogate from the stunning of animals,
thereby undermining the welfare of the animals. Therefore the Commission believes that prior
stunning should always be performed when pigs or lambs are slaughtered outside slaughterhouses.
Another point of the proposal is related to the establishment of a national centre of reference. We
believe that this element is essential to guarantee proper enforcement of the proposed measures. In
slaughterhouses, official inspectors perform food safety controls, mainly on carcasses. They have
little time and limited competences to assess animal welfare parameters. These days, stunning
equipment is complex and difficult to evaluate in relation to their welfare efficiency. National
reference centres would meet the need for technical and scientific information on the welfare of
animals at slaughter and the Commission considers that this requirement should be maintained in
the proposal.
The Commission also believes that certificates of competence required for the personnel in
slaughterhouses should be issued following an independent examination. This system has been
developed in other areas of animal welfare, both in the public and the private sector. Where this has
been properly implemented, it has provided good results. This should therefore be extended to all
EU slaughterhouses.
Animals are also killed in huge numbers outside slaughterhouses in order to control the spread of
disease. It is true that requirements already exist for animal health purposes, but today's
requirements do not relate to animal welfare. People consider that mass culling for disease control
purposes should be performed in the most humane way possible. Transparency, which means
proper reporting, is therefore essential. Furthermore, previous experience in these emergency
situations has shown that it is crucial to collect information on good practices and on mistakes that
might have occurred. Proper monitoring and reporting on animal welfare should therefore be
required in cases of mass culling.
I would very much welcome your support of the Commission proposal. If successfully adopted, the
European Union would have the potential to lead and innovate globally on animal welfare.
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