Bijdrage land­bouw­com­missie over de presen­tatie van de “van boer tot bord” strategie voor een eerlijk, gezond en mili­eu­vrien­delijk voed­sel­systeem.

Anja Hazekamp (PvdD): Thank you Chair and thank you Commissioner for your presentations.

More than 7 billion animals are kept and slaughtered in the EU every year. The Farm2Fork Strategy is lacking concrete targets to reduce the oversized livestock industry in Europe, which has a huge impact on the environment, on the climate, on the worldwide biodiversity and on animal welfare. Factory farming is also a sink and mixing vessels for viruses and bacteria, like mink farms are for COVID-19 in the Netherlands.

Does the Commission think that the EU can be a world leader in sustainable food production whilst large scale factory farming remains untouched, including the EU funding for meat promotion? A Dutch newspaper implies that heavy lobbying by the Italian meat industry and by Members of this AGRI committee has lead to changes in the final text. Can the Commission please provide us with more transparency on the decision making process regarding the unsustainable European meat promotion program?

And I am pleased that the Commission is improving the rules on animal welfare and animal transport. But why wait another three and a half years? Animals have waited for decades now, so please don’t wait to end the immense animal suffering on farms, in cages, during transport and in slaughterhouses. Thank you.