Animal Law Italia joins the #EUforAnimals campaign
Animal Law Italia joins #EUforAnimals, a campaign launched by the Belgian NGO GAIA and supported by an increasing number of organisations across Europe. The campaign aims to place animal welfare at the heart of European Institutions’ agenda.
Following the overwhelming success of the European Initiative “End the Cage Age”, to which ALI contributed, we believe it is time for European Institutions to pay attention to people’s requests, by putting forward bold, ambitious and evidence-based legislative proposals aiming at improving animals’ lives and reflective of a cultural shift.
Once again, we would like to achieve this objective by providing a voice for citizens: we have therefore launched a petition that can be supported on the campaign website.
What are we calling for?
In order to reach our goal, we are calling for the European Commission (the “government” of the EU consisting of Commissioners that can be described as “EU ministries”) to make animal welfare more prominent within the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety’s remit, whose title would in turn become “Commissioner for Health, Food Safety and Animal Welfare”.
We would like this change to be reflected in the title of the Directorate General (the “ministry”) to which the Commissioner belongs. Such a change would allow a more pro-active role for the Commissioner, who is already responsible for animal welfare. Moreover, the clear indication of this responsibility would contribute towards reducing the lobbying power of economic or sectoral interests that more often than impede the full implementation of European regulations on animal welfare.
This absence represents an anachronistic limitation, superseded by the acknowledgment of animals as sentient beings.
The lack of a clear indication of animal welfare among the tasks of the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety is an anachronistic limitation, referring to the time preceding the Lisbon Treaty, which has officially acknowledged animals as sentient beings; and the EU must take their needs into account.
How can you help?
We are asking you to support this crucial campaign by signing our petition and sharing the link to this page with your friends.
After signing the petition, follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on this and other campaigns to improve the status of animals in Italy and Europe.
