Draft CAP Proposal Does Not Improve Welfare
EU - Eurogroup for Animals is extremely disappointed that in the draft proposals on the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) leaked recently, the Commission does not address the concerns of millions of EU citizens, who have called for improved welfare for farm animals and for more sustainable agriculture.
22 September 2011
1 minute read
Animal welfare is not stated as an objective of the reformed policy and no basic payment will be given to farmers to improve it, according to Eurogroup. In addition, the Commission does not respect its commitment from 2005 to stop granting subsidies for live cattle exports to third countries and the associated animal welfare problems caused by long distance transport will therefore continue.
As in the current CAP, Member States will have the possibility to support farmers who apply stricter animal welfare standards than the EU minimum ones. However, this will not be obligatory and most Member States might decide not to offer this support to their farmers. In addition, no specific budget will be reserved for this animal welfare payment, reducing further the incentive.
The European Commission has also ignored Eurogroup's demand to extend cross-compliance to the provisions of the laying hens and the meat chickens directives, which would have contributed to a better enforcement of these directives.
Even if measures are included under rural development, which could be used to improve farm animal welfare, such as investments or training, Eurogroup is disappointed to see that the Commission has ignored the results of the public consultation carried out last year, when the majority of citizens supported the improvement of animal welfare as a public good through the CAP.
TheCattleSite News Desk
