The European Parliament has established a temporary parliamentary committee to investigate abuses in animal transport. This will involve not only monitoring the actual transport but also examining the widespread lack of enforcement against excesses in many EU countries.
The temporary EP committee will also have to report within a year on why apparently nothing has been done at EU level so far to prevent unnecessary animal suffering.
The so-called ANIT committee will investigate how permits for animal transports that violate European animal welfare rules continue to be issued, and will make recommendations to stop these serious abuses. The new committee was set up with 605 votes in favor, 53 against, and 31 abstentions.
The parliamentary committee will look into how the European Commission and EU countries ensure compliance with EU rules on long-distance animal transport, on preventing delays, and on the transport of sick animals. They can also investigate the alleged failure of national inspection agencies to enforce EU animal welfare rules when moving animals from the EU to non-EU countries.
The initiative was taken by Dutch MEP Anja Hazekamp (Party for the Animals), who called on the new European Parliament’s first sitting day to establish a parliamentary inquiry into animal transports. A similar attempt in 2018 failed due to opposition from the leaders of EU political groups.
Hazekamp has traveled several times throughout Europe to monitor animal transports. For example, this summer she tried to prevent a mass transport of 70,000 sheep from Romania to the Middle East. The sea transport, which would have lasted weeks in extreme temperatures of up to 46 degrees Celsius, ultimately went ahead and thousands of sheep died en route.
Last year, MEPs from various groups joined the initiative, including Tilly Metz and Sarah Wiener (Greens), Niels Fuglsang and Maria Noichl (S&D), Pascal Durand (Renew), Jadwiga Wisniewska (ECR), and Sirpa Pietikainen (EPP). In February this year, the initiators succeeded in gathering the signatures of a quarter of the European Parliament members.
On Wednesday, the ANIT committee will meet for the first time in Brussels. Tilly Metz (Greens) is expected to be elected chair, with Anja Hazekamp and Dutch PvdA member Mohamed Chahim elected as vice-chairs.