Document type : article published in Le Monde (subscriber edition)
Author: Mathilde Gérard
Preview: The European auditors will publish a report on Monday that highlights the use of extended journeys causing stress and suffering to live animals as a means to keep costs low. Most of the European regulations on animal welfare, which date back 18 years, are soon to be be revised. The European Commission is due to present its new regulatory framework in the Autumn, including a section on animal transport.
Following the studies carried out by the Commission itself, the European Parliament and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), it is now the turn of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) to publish itsanalysis on Monday 17 April,
Every year, some 1.6 billion animals are transported between European Union (EU) countries and to or from third countries - movements within States are not recorded or known at European level. Of these, the largest group is poultry (1.4 billion), followed by 31 million pigs, 4.3 million cattle and 3 million sheep.
The number of journeys and distances are increasing, leading to stress and suffering (hunger, thirst, injuries, heat stress), as has been demonstrated by recent EFSA assessments.
According to the ECA, the transport of animals is primarily for economic reasons: entire European regions specialize in the breeding of a certain species, but they also specialise in a particular production stage (breeding, fattening, slaughtering, etc.). For example, in 2021, France exported 350,000 dairy calves to Spain (three times more than in 2012), where they were fattened and some were then transported by sea for slaughter in non-European countries (Libya, Turkey, Israel, etc.).
In the view of the ECA, we must "promote the transport of meat rather than live animals". In their general conclusions, the rapporteurs ask that the latter be transported in limited numbers and for limited durations, avoiding journeys of more than eight hours, which currently make up more than a third of movements within Europe.
"Animal suffering is free"
Among its key recommendations, the ECA suggests that the cost of animal suffering should be built into the price of transport and, ultimately, into the price of meat. Very often it is more profitable to transport animals than meat," says Eva Lindström, ECA auditor. We observe that animal suffering is free, and that there is no economic incentive to improve animals' welfare at different stages of their lives." And the ECA stresses that, while the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has included some provisions that promote the processing of animals on farms, it contains no measures to improve transport conditions. [end of the text available to non-subscribers]
Related articles published:
- on the Eurogroup for Animals website on 18 April 2023: New review on live animal transport echoes our call for change in the industry
- in Le Figaro on April 18, 2023: La Cour des comptes de l’Union européenne suggère d’intégrer la souffrance animale dans le prix de la viande
