Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-01-13-Speech-2-251"
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"en.20040113.11.2-251"2
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".
I thank Mrs McKenna for her question. The Commission is very concerned about the welfare of animals and gives it very high priority. Community rules exist in respect of animals, including dogs, for their protection during transport.
Under the protocol on the protection and welfare of animals annexed to the EC Treaty, the Community and Member States must pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals in formulating and implementing the Community’s agriculture, transport, internal market and research policies, while respecting the legislative or administrative provisions and customs of the Member States relating, in particular, to religious rites, cultural traditions and regional heritage.
As a consequence of this, the conditions under which dogs such as greyhounds are kept and raced or used for hunting within the Member States are not regulated by Community law. These are matters coming solely within the jurisdiction of the Member State concerned. As it is the duty of the individual Member States to find a solution to this problem, the Commission can only call upon responsible authorities to eliminate the ill-treatment to which the honourable Member refers. In this context it is significant that last year the largest Spanish animal welfare organisation recognised that progress towards improving the welfare of these animals is being achieved, including through the updating of legislation by the autonomous regions. In addition, police action has curtailed the cruel methods of killing these dogs at the end of the hunting season.
While general cruelty to dogs or the use of these animals for racing or hunting comes within the sole competence of the Member States, commercial transport of these animals over distances of more than 50 kilometres falls within the scope of Council Directive 91/628/EEC as amended by Directive 95/29/EC.
Complaints have been formally brought to the attention of the Irish, Spanish and UK authorities.
The Irish authorities provided a comprehensive reply on 5 March 2002 outlining the various actions taken to protect greyhounds transported to other Member States and also providing other information on the aspects of greyhound rearing and racing which are outside the scope of Community legislation. No basis for infringement proceedings was apparent from the reply from Ireland.
As far as matters falling within Community competence are concerned, namely the commercial transport of animals, the Spanish authorities indicated that they were not able to trace particular shipments of greyhounds transported from Ireland. The Commission continues to make further enquiries.
The Commission confirms that no Community aid is now available for investment in greyhound rearing or racing. While previous operational programmes allowed for aid for investment in greyhound housing and rearing facilities, no Community aid has been paid since 1993."@en1
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