Document type Response from the European Commission to question E-000006/24
Authors: question: Annika Bruna (ID). Answer: Mr Wojciechowski on behalf of the European Commission
Question: On 14 December 2023, the Commission amended the Regulation on hygiene rules for products of animal origin to authorise mobile slaughterhouses for all species.
Mobile abattoirs have many advantages:
firstly, they obviate de facto the need to transport the animals and the cruel conditions that entails (long, cramped, sometimes very hot journeys);
Secondly, they replace conventional abattoirs, many of which are closing, meaning that there are fewer of them and they are further away from farms, and the animals have to be transported even further;
Thirdly, they avoid the ill-treatment noted in traditional slaughterhouses, such as ritual slaughter without prior stunning.
With a view to fostering the development of mobile abattoirs, can the Commission say:
1. Whether it is considering funding mobile abattoir projects?
2. Whether it will encourage the Member States to fund them as well, despite the resistance of the industrial abattoirs that have opposed this competition, particularly when the recovery plans were being devised?
3. Whether it is ready to raise public awareness, by supporting labelling indicating use of these mobile abattoirs by local operators for instance?
Answer: During both the 2014-2022 and 2023-2027 programming periods, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) could fund investment support for local small-scale slaughterhouses, including mobile ones. Mobile slaughterhouses present an interest from the point of view of limiting the transport of animals. It is up to Member States to include such support in their Rural Development Programmes or CAP Strategic Plans, in line with their needs assessment and intervention strategy. For the CAP Strategic Plans this option is possible under Article 73 — Investments of Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 [1] establishing rules on support for strategic plans. In addition, recognised producer organisations in the livestock sector can invest in physical assets such as a mobile abattoir equipment, provided it is part of its approved operational programme. The investment may be used at the premises of the producer organisation or of its producer members (under the provisions of Articles 66 et 47 (1) (a) — Investments in tangible and intangible assets of the same Regulation (EU) 2021/2115). Under both the 2014-2022 and 2023-2027 rural development programming, Member States may support under Technical Assistance awareness actions, including for the certification and labelling of mobile slaughterhouses, but it is up to them to propose and implement them.
[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32021R2115
