Why do we need an EU Commissioner for Animal Welfare?

About the event

There is massive support among MEPs and citizens for the #EUforAnimals campaign, which demands that more relevance be given to animal welfare by making this responsibility explicit in the name of the relevant Directorate-General and the job title of the competent EU Commissioner.

In the present context, the Commissioner’s responsibility would become for “Health, Food Safety and Animal Welfare”.

Although animal welfare is an area in which most Europeans demand strong improvements – and for which EU officials constantly express verbal support – real action is frequently absent or painfully slow. This is often attributed to the insufficient human and financial resources that are allocated to the enforcement of existing rules and to updating them when necessary.

In this roundtable debate at the European Parliament in Brussels on June 27th at 13.00, MEPs and other guests will discuss and explain why the periodic engagement of Commissioners and other mainstream politicians is not enough to protect animal welfare in the EU.

As with other topics, its integration into the job title of the relevant Commissioner would bring about the transparency, accountability and allocation of adequate resources that more than 190 MEPs and 260,000 citizens are demanding.

Organised with the kind support of GAIA