14
Mar
2024
Watch
Promised revision of the EU animal welfare legislation and the animal welfare-related European citizens’ initiatives (debate)
Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, how can you be bold enough to claim to be the white knights of animal welfare, when in this very Chamber you have been supporting the opening of the European market to Ukrainian chickens and eggs for two years? Do you have to remember that, in Ukraine, 40 million hens are raised in narrow sheds in the Vinnytsia region, in the center of the country, where the multinational MHP holds more than 20 hens per square meter? We are far from respecting animal welfare. In addition, you are imposing new unfair competition on French and European breeders in favour of breeders who do not respect anything and who guarantee even less. Your agribashing, as you turn a blind eye to abuse elsewhere, beyond a blatant injustice, shows your contempt for our farmers, who are among the most virtuous in the world. No one is fooled by your proposed text, which is above all a pretext for imposing new restrictions on farms here, while encouraging imports from elsewhere. A double standard – I would even say hypocrisy – that actually gives us goosebumps.