The European Parliament believes there should be no ban on the use of certain medicines and antibiotics for animals. With a large majority in Strasbourg, a motion from the European Greens was rejected, which proposed that most types of antibiotics should henceforth only be used for humans.
Last week, Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides urged the AGRI agriculture committee of the European Parliament not to support the Greens' motion, as it would lead to an unworkable situation in livestock farming. It is quite unusual for an EU Commissioner to intervene in voting procedures and deliberations of an EP committee outside of regular meetings.
Dutch and European agricultural organizations, veterinarians, and pharmaceutical companies had bombarded the European Parliament with a last-minute warning earlier this month, after the German Martin Hausling (Greens) had presented his amendment proposal at the very last committee meeting. In that ENVI environment committee, the proposal was widely supported, creating uncertainty about whether the new directive would receive sufficient backing in the plenary vote.
The updated European directive concerns reducing resistance to medicines, which usually leads to the development of more and stronger medicines. The European Commission has established new criteria for this.
In an open letter published last weekend in Volkskrant, Dutch animal experts pointed out that resistance to medicines is increasingly occurring not only in humans but also in animals. They argued that veterinarians must be able to prescribe different antibiotics to effectively treat infections.
Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem. The consequences for humans in the Netherlands are still very limited. Furthermore, the Netherlands is already a frontrunner in reducing antibiotic use in animals. As a result, the renewed directive will bring little change there. Other EU countries are also paying increasing attention to this issue.
In 2019, new EU legislation was published requiring the use of antibiotics to already be limited. EU countries must also map the usage of all antibiotics in animals. Belgian Member of the European Parliament Tom Vandenkendelaere (CD&V) emphasized in De Tijd that the use of common antibiotics in animals in Belgium has already decreased by 40 percent.