Speeches

Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I welcome the recognition of organic farming as a strong component of the European Union's journey towards more sustainable food systems. The path towards increasing the consumption and production of organic products and also reaching the target of at least 25% of organically farmed land is, however, still long and difficult. I would therefore like to emphasise the role that public policies, in particular the Common Agricultural Policy, will play in this direction, helping farmers in this transition, both through financial support and through advisory and training services. At the same time, a harmonious development of the organic sector will also involve focusing on markets and supply chains, as well as promoting measures that stimulate demand for organic food, thereby ensuring prosperity and market stability, fair remuneration for farmers and affordable prices for consumers.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, we know that animals have an intrinsic value, regardless of their usefulness to humans. They are sentient beings and, as such, cannot be subjected to degrading treatments that contradict their nature and objectify them. Animals are not just things. European regulations have allowed a positive evolution in the way animals are treated in the European area. However, we can and must do more and better. As identified by the evaluation study on the implementation of European legislation, there are several issues that require attention and solutions. This is the case for the lack of provisions adapted to the needs of the different species, the lack of harmonisation in the quality and availability of data, the problems of implementing the legal rules, and sometimes even cases of poor controls. These are problems that we want to see resolved in the European Commission's announced revision of animal welfare legislation. Ladies and gentlemen, let us not forget that our collective ethics are also expressed in the way we treat animals.

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, today we conclude with this debate a long process that began 18 months ago. We listened to experts, we went to the field to know different realities, we did studies, we debated exhaustively among ourselves, and well! Because animal welfare is a flag of this institution present in many legislative and non-legislative documents and the transport of live animals is clearly an inseparable part of animal welfare. At this point, I would like to thank my fellow co-rapporteur, Daniel Buda, and my fellow rapporteurs for their frank and cordial cooperation and constructive approach in finding solutions that have enabled us to reach such a large number of compromises. Each of us has a perspective on the best solutions for animal transport and on choosing the best paths for system change. But there is something that unites us: is that none of us accepts the reality of animal suffering during transport that we have witnessed all too often. In the mandate of this Commission, we have had the responsibility to investigate alleged violations in the application of Union law on the protection of animals during transport and to produce a report with our findings. I believe that we have been extremely successful in this respect, and the report was adopted in committee with only one abstention. There we first identify the problems and limitations in the current application of Regulation (EC) No 1/2005. We find that there are infringements that are often documented: transport of unfit animals, overcrowding of means of transport, inadequate drinking systems, transport under extreme temperatures, lack of contingency plans, use of means unsuitable for transported animals, among others. A scenario to which are added the different interpretations that Member States make and a system of controls and sanctions without homogeneity and that therefore loses efficiency and effectiveness. This is also an outdated regulation, with unclear forecasts, where there are no concrete definitions, a regulation that is out of line, moreover, in several respects with what science tells us today, a regulation that fails to establish adequate provisions for some species, such as birds and rabbits, and for others does not even present anything, as is the case with aquatic animals. A regulation with inadequate rules for highly vulnerable animals, such as unweaned and end-of-life animals and pregnant females. We therefore believe, in the light of these conclusions, that we were required to take more determined action, and we have put this into practice in a document containing recommendations to the European Commission and the Member States, which we are voting on this morning. The compromises presented by the rapporteurs present a path of unambiguous ambition, which makes a real difference in the protection of animal welfare during transport. A path that is more than necessary, but which we present as an ambition that develops in respect for geographical differences and limitations, differences in infrastructure development and different capacities to respond to sudden changes on the part of the rural world. We therefore believe that, on this ambitious path, we must also consider the social dimension of what we are proposing. How will all this affect the people who depend on these activities taking place in territories that are already as depressed as many of our rural areas are? We need ambition and we need to bring about change, but in a socially conscious way that respects territorial cohesion. We therefore call on the European Commission to present, no later than 2023, an action plan that clearly identifies the driving forces behind animal transport and proposes concrete policy actions to reduce the need for the transport of live animals, promoting their replacement by meat, carcasses and genetic material, and bearing in mind the need to minimise the socio-economic impacts of such a change. The revision of the regulation on animal transport is a necessity and an urgency, which is no longer discussed. We must have clearer exhibition forecasts on the compulsory training of all those involved in transport. We must have a control system that really works and is dissuasive. We must have a more homogeneous framework of sanctions, with reinforced retrospective controls and on the basis of a stronger common European framework. Another key point concerns the need to improve several provisions on maritime transport, which is not adequately covered by the current Regulation. But I stress here the importance of this means of transport for some countries, as I am sure everyone knows, even with regard to its internal territorial cohesion. We ask for a more attentive and demanding look at animals that are not even included in the current rules and at animals from vulnerable categories, such as end-of-career animals, for their lower economic value, which are in a situation of enormous vulnerability. I am also talking about pregnant animals and unweaned animals. For all these animals, we propose amendments that make a substantial, non-rhetorical difference to the current framework regarding the protection of animal rights during transport. I would also stress, with regard to journey times, something that seems to me to be very important, that the limitation of 8 hours of transport for animals intended for slaughter, taking into account the geographical specificities, particularly of the outermost regions, would be an important step in reducing the number of animal transports. This should go hand in hand with improving structural conditions by mobilising support to improve the network of local and regional mobile slaughterhouses. I would also stress, with regard to journey times, that wanting to go beyond what we propose is, in some cases, technically impossible and therefore unrealistic because of the geographical and infrastructural constraints of various regions, and in other cases even amounts to the creation of internal barriers within Member States, making it impossible to transport animals within those same countries. I would also remind you that there are no outermost regions without maritime transport. As far as animal transport is concerned, this is far from being possible in 24 hours. Ladies and gentlemen, the work of this committee of inquiry is the work of all of us, which represents a very important contribution to the paradigm shift and which, I believe, will make a real difference in defending animal welfare during transport and in transforming mentalities.

Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, for three years we have been discussing the future of the CAP with farmers and citizens with our eyes on us. For three years we have insisted on the importance of stability and predictability of support to farmers and the importance of meeting one of the main objectives of this policy: ensuring fair and dignified conditions for agricultural activity, a key pillar of our rural world. Three long years of discussions, difficult negotiations, culminating in the agreement reached under the Portuguese Presidency and ending today with the vote on this new CAP. A CAP that is not perfect, that does not meet all expectations, but that also brings achievements, much thanks to the action and negotiating determination of this Parliament and that should be valued, not underestimated. The new CAP integrates, for the first time, the instrument of social conditionality, a key instrument in achieving greater social justice for all those working in the agricultural sector, and which expresses the commitment of our democratic societies to labour dignity as an integral part of human dignity itself. The new CAP also incorporates a new environmental ambition, present in new instruments such as eco-schemes, which, together with other measures, build the necessary safety net to support farmers in the transition to production practices and techniques that allow a better preservation of natural resources, the protection of biodiversity, the fight against climate change. The new CAP, I repeat, is not perfect, but it has my positive vote out of respect for all these achievements, which have been hard-won in this House, and which it would be unbearable and incomprehensible to postpone any longer. And my positive vote does not deprive me of legitimacy to criticize what she could have gone further and was not. And I will exercise my right to criticism by closely monitoring the steps that will be taken to achieve the objectives and ambitions on the ground where the CAP must be effectively delivered.

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the challenges of the climate crisis, the rampant loss of biodiversity, food insecurity, which affects more than 800 million people in the world, are warning us of the impending non-return. Avoiding this point is therefore an imperative of ethics and survival to which political action must be able to respond. As a pillar of society and the management of natural resources, food systems at all stages and with all those involved, from farmers to consumers, from industry to commerce, are central to the change that is required and therefore deserve, particularly farmers and fishermen, all the support and all the instruments necessary for this change. The message of the report we are debating today reflects the complexity of the task, the result of a challenging exercise, with difficult balance between visions. This report is an example of the democratic maturity that the European Parliament conveys to citizens and which must be valued.