SAV very much welcomes and supports the Belgium government during its EU Presidency in this cause to better the lives of all dogs and cats.
SAV have already submitted information to the EU specifically associated with the very widespread and terrible suffering of stray animals in both Serbia and other Balkans states. Our first presentation was provided in a seven page paper dated 17th June 2010. We will continue to provide evidence of the suffering in Balkans states at every opportunity.
With Serbia and other states wishing to gain future EU membership; now is the time for such states to actually show that they are going to enforce their own national laws regarding animal welfare. If they continue to avoid the legislation to protect animals, we will have no hesitation in providing all the evidence of abuses and suffering to the EU relating to non compliance by those who will be new EU member states.
Compliance with legislation, the rule of law, is a fundamental requirement of EU membership accession.
The evidence is slowly building for us on our side. Animals will unfortunately continue to suffer in the meantime; but we will continue to expose non compliance with legislation and remind the EU of this non compliance by states seeking EU accession in the near future.
The CAROdog website can be accessed via the following link: http://carodog.eu/
Reference Information:
Presidency of the Council of the European Union is the responsibility for the functioning of the Council of the European Union that rotates between the member states of the European Union (EU) every six months. The presidency is not a single president but rather the task is undertaken by a national government. Three successive presidencies, known as presidency trios, cooperate for an 18-month period to provide additional continuity by sharing common political programmes. The current (2010-2011) trio consists of Spain (which took up the position in January 2010), Belgium (which took over in July 2010) and Hungary (slated to take over in January 2011).
SAV.
Belgian Presidency wants EU strategy on dog welfare
Published: 10 September 2010
Belgium wants to use its EU presidency to underline the key societal role played by companion animals like dogs and cats, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister for Health and Social Affairs Laurette Onkelinx announced yesterday (9 September), expressing support for the development of an EU-wide animal welfare strategy.
Background
Yesterday’s launch of the CAROdog.eu – which stands for Companion Animal Responsible Ownership for Dogs in Europe – website came as the European Commission is putting together its second Animal Welfare Action Plan.
EU animal welfare legislation is currently governed by the first Community Action Plan on the Protection and Welfare of Animals, which came into force in 2006 and expires at the end of the year.
“During our country’s presidency of the Council, we are underlining the important role of companion animals in civil society,” said Onkelinx, speaking at the launch of a website on dog welfare in Brussels.
“Dog and cat overpopulation creates a lot of suffering for unwanted animals,” she added, explaining that “sharing information and experience is the basis for every development in animal welfare, and here, for a Europe-wide solution and strategy to create an appropriate and responsible attitude by us humans towards animals”.
Onkelinx pointed to the Treaty of Lisbon, Article 13 of which reads “the [European] Union and the member states shall, since animals are sentient beings, pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals,” as a possible basis for further EU action in this area.
Commission mulls legislation
Yesterday’s conference came as the European Commission is working to draw up its second Animal Welfare Action Plan (2011-2015).
Denis Simonin, an animal welfare official in the Commission’s health and consumer protection directorate, yesterday confirmed statements made earlier this year by EU Health Commissioner John Dalli that the EU executive was considering tabling specific legislation on the welfare of companion animals in its upcoming review.
“The health and welfare of dogs and cats is crucial to human welfare,” Simonin said. “As there are no EU rules governing the protection of companion animals, the Commission is considering developing specific actions […] in the framework of its forthcoming animal welfare strategy,” he added.
The CAROdog.eu website – which was initially created by animal welfare organisation Four Paws and the Istituto G. Caporale – is described as “a management database containing the most recent scientific and practical information regarding companion animals, including stray animals, in Europe”.
The initial aim of the site, the editorial board of which the European Commission and the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe are also members, is “to provide, generate and disseminate reliable knowledge about dog health and welfare in Europe, focusing on strategies against canine overpopulation”.
It offers a comprehensive library of literature and scientific research on dog welfare, as well as a glossary of terms.
Website ‘source of inspiration’
“I hope the website will help EU member states to deal with animal welfare issues until harmonised EU rules on animal welfare are brought out. Let it be a source of inspiration for us,” said Onkelinx at the website’s launch yesterday.
Echoing the minister, Paolo Dalla Villa, head of the animal welfare department at the Istituto G. Caporale, said “the website offers a unique way to use new technology to share knowledge,” expressing hope that it would help develop EU policies and prove useful for governments across Europe and beyond.
CAROdog.eu seeks to offer scientific, legal and practical tools for political strategies and concrete programmes “to build up a Europe-wide culture of responsible dog ownership,” reads a statement on the site.
“Only a multidisciplinary, systemic approach can strengthen the European culture of responsible ownership of animals,” argues Four Paws.
Other participants in yesterday’s event stressed the importance of acting early to prevent problems from manifesting themselves.
“Rules and regulations will never do the job alone. We need to join forces and reach out to animal owners to get their commitment, not just stay on out little islands,” said Jan Vaarten, executive director of the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FEV).
“This initiative goes in that direction,” he added.
Asked why the website was only available in English, Marlene Wartenberg, director of Four Paws’ European policy office, said “our budget is limited, so we started with translating the flyers,” expressing hope that volunteers would step in to translate the website now it has gone live.
Next month, the European Commission will host the first international conference on animal welfare education (1-2 October).
The event will be followed by another Brussels conference, organised by Four Paws, on responsible dog ownership in Europe (4-5 October).
Positions
Welcoming the website’s launch, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister for Health and Social Affairs Laurette Onkelinx described the initiative as “a very good step forward for the public to learn about dog health and welfare and for the European Union to strengthen and enlarge the scope of animal welfare protection towards companion animals”.
In a statement released to mark the website’s launch, German CDU MEP Elisabeth Jeggle (European People’s Party), vice-president of the European Parliament’s intergroup on the welfare and conservation of animals, thanked the Belgian EU Presidency “for taking on the topic and submitting it to the Council”.
“The website provides innovative knowledge management about canine population. I am sure that it will be a main factor in the development of broad knowledge about responsible dog ownership,” said Helmut Dungler, founder and CEO of animal welfare organisation Four Paws, one of CAROdog’s creators.
“Before CAROdog, fragmented information about dog ownership was spread all over the Internet, whereas now we have a database that gives every dog owner the opportunity to find it all in one place,” he added.
Vincenzo Caporale, director of the Istituto G. Caporale, another of the site’s creators, said “the success of the CAROdog website is that it successfully combines science-based and fact-based information, with the expertise of Istituto G. Caporale and the practical experience of Four Paws”.
“It is certain that all this information will be of interest and support to the global animal health and welfare field and for governments, including outside Europe,” Caporale added.
“Companion animals make a strong contribution to human life and welfare, and public health institutions have a duty to protect animal health as a means of protecting human health,” said Paolo Dalla Villa, head of the animal welfare department at the Istituto G. Caporale.
Next Steps
1-2 Oct.: European Commission to host first international conference on animal welfare education, under auspices of Belgian EU Presidency.
4-5 Oct.: Four Paws conference on responsible dog ownership in Europe.
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