European countries unite on animal welfare
German Federal Minister of Agriculture Christian Schmidt, his Dutch counterpart Sharon Dijksma and the Danish Minister of Agriculture Dan Jørgensen signed the declaration in the Dutch town of Vught on 14 December, and have called on the European Commission to give animal welfare issues a higher profile in terms of priority.
Schmidt said: "The goal that unites us is to take animal welfare forward in the EU. We will pool our resources and work even closer together in the future to improve animal welfare.
"My goal is to make high animal welfare standards the European trademark. Animal welfare should also be an integral part of trade agreements and be taken into account by the World Trade Organisation as a trade concern."
He also called on more member states to join the declaration, which says that the three countries will work more closely together on areas such as animal welfare research, husbandry systems, and best practice examples.
It states: "The European Union must continue to put animal welfare at the forefront and it should actively develop greater awareness of the welfare of animals also at international level."
The signing of the joint declaration has been welcomed by Eurogroup for Animals. Director of the animal advocacy organisation Reineke Hameleers said: "The Declaration is a clear signal that several major member states see the need for the EU to act to improve animal welfare.
"We endorse their list of actions that need to be addressed and hope this will be the first step in a concrete action plan to enforce change for Europe’s animals. We call on the three ministers to also take account of the work that needs to be done to improve the welfare of wild animals."
Eurogroup added that it was counting on the three countries to take the lead, and not wait until there was a majority of member states in favour of the declaration.
