The European Parliament has reiterated its commitment to improving animal welfare this week. Following a debate yesterday, MEPs on the Agriculture committee pledged to improve animal welfare during transport and in the lead up to slaughter.

MEPs said cutting transport time would only form the beginning of a wider shift towards more humane measures throughout the supply chain. Shorter transport times will be supplemented by encouraging more local slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, upgrading transport vehicles and improving compliance between member states to create a more level playing field.

EU Parliament rapporteur Janusz Wojciechowski outlined the obstacles to improving animal welfare across the EU in a report presented to the parliament; he said that, despite the problems, work should not be limited to reducing transport times, but also improving conditions through education and compliance measure. Wojciechowski stated, "We should insist on limiting such transport for all types of animals."

Other MEPs agreed with the rapporteur; Swedish MEP Marit Paulsen said, "Eight hours is a nice buzzword, but more must be done to improve animal welfare". She said there is a need for tighter controls and stricter enforcement, making use of technologies such as GPS for monitoring purposes. Committee members also expounded on the need to ensure compliance across all member states, so that those with stricter welfare laws in place are not put at a disadvantage.

Work on transport conditions, not duration

UK MEP Stuart Agnew said that the ‘eight hour’ buzzword is approaching the issue in “entirely the wrong way.” He supported Mr Wojciechowski in stating the conditions in which animals are transported matter more than the duration of the journey. Richard Ainsworth added that such an approach would be "a blunt instrument," unless transport conditions are addressed through education of handlers and stricter enforcement.

However, MEPs did not universally agree on all aspects of the improvements propsed by the parliament. Although the parliament rapporteur said that transport times should be cut for all species, some MEPs called for transport times to remain species-specific.

Green MEP Alyn Smith said changes need to be made across the supply chain to reduce the need to transport animals long distances, in order to make production more sustainable and welfare friendly in the long term. He was supported in this by a number of other MEPs, including Luis Manuel Capoulas Santos, who insisted that strict EU hygiene rules, although important, must not lead to the closure of small abattoirs, thus forcing the transport of animals over long distances and expressed concern over the practice of transporting animals between member states to obtain ‘country of origin’ labels.

The Agriculture Committee will vote on Mr Wojciechowski's report in July; the outcome of the vote will go towards improvements of current EU welfare laws, which have been in place since 2007.

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