OneKind welcomes the Animal Welfare Declaration signed this week by Sharon Dijksma, the Dutch Minister of Agriculture; Christian Schmidt, the German Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture and Dan Jørgensen, the Danish Minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries.

This initiative calls on the European Commission and all Member States to acknowledge the need for better regulation, better animal welfare and to promote awareness, EU standards and knowledge.

The three ministers gave clear reference to Article 13 of the Lisbon Treaty which recognises the sentience of all animals. However, this Article still remains to be made effective as current EU legislation still considers animals as commodities, products or meat, and not sentient beings.

Reineke Hameleers, Director at Eurogroup for Animals – of which OneKind is a member – said: “The Declaration is a clear signal that several major Member States see the need for the EU to act to improve animal welfare. We endorse their list of actions that need to be addressed and hope that this will be the first step in a concrete action plan to enforce change for Europe’s animals. We call on the three ministers to also take account of the work that needs to be done to improve the welfare of wild animals.”

Animal welfare can no longer be treated as a standalone issue but must be integrated and directly connected to EU competencies such as public health, the single market, competitiveness and sustainability.  Seeing three Member States call on the EU to act for animals is impressive, and we count on them to take the lead and not wait until there is a majority amongst the 28 Member States for the Declaration before its actions are addressed. Individual member states can develop best practices domestically and lead by example, encouraging other Member States and putting pressure on the Council and Commission to act.

Eurogroup and OneKind particularly welcome the call of Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands to:

• Harmonise the interpretation and enforcement of EU animal welfare legislation especially on restricting transport journey times
• Phase out non-therapeutic mutilations like pig castration, tail docking of pigs and beak trimming of laying hens
• Call for EU legislation for specific species such as dairy cows
• Develop legislation for companion animals
• Push the Commission to deliver on the outstanding objectives and action points in the Animal Welfare Strategy (2012-2015)
• Develop a EU stakeholder platform for animal welfare

OneKind believes that the UK should also step up to the plate on these issues, and make domestic commitments such as reform of the pet vending trade, ending the use of animals in circuses and improving the welfare of wild animals, both in captivity and in the wild. These are much-needed reforms and EU membership must not be a smokescreen for unnecessary delay.

See more at #act4animals