Bijdrage plenaire verga­dering over het imple­men­ta­tie­rapport over het welzijn van land­bouw­huis­dieren

Anja Hazekamp (PvdD): Madam President, the rapporteur announced at the start of the negotiations that he wanted an objective debate without extreme positions. Is it possible for an active cattle farmer to write an objective report on animal welfare on farms, solely based on facts instead of his personal opinions? Clearly not. This report is not objective. It is not science-based and not even about animal welfare.

It is time that those who cried the loudest for scientific evidence start using scientific evidence themselves. I cannot emphasise enough how extremely disappointing it is that once again, animal welfare is hijacked by the ongoing debate on the future of farmers. A missed opportunity, but we can fix this by voting in favour of the alternative and objective reports written and adopted by the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI).

Dear Commissioner, times are changing, but not everyone seems to be willing to embrace this change. I hope and expect from the Commissioner that she will use her common sense and base her legislative proposals on scientific evidence and on the welfare and needs of every animal species. That is what we need to tackle the numerous cases of non-compliance, the enormous animal suffering and the systemic inhumane treatment of animals exposed by multiple investigations and by your own inspections. The sooner, the better.