I welcome the joint initiative of Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to ban long transports of live animals by road and water! Such live transports are cruelty to animals. Unfortunately, as we have seen time and again, most transports do not even meet the minimum standards to avoid unnecessary animal suffering. Numerous loopholes also make the situation worse, so that animals often suffer days, weeks or even months of unimaginable torture during transport and often die miserably. After the Committee of Inquiry on Animal Transport in the EU Parliament, which was set up especially for this purpose, uncovered numerous problems, this long overdue initiative is now very welcome. I am pleased to see that our demands are being translated into reality.

It is now urgent to ensure that the remaining 24 Member States follow this example and close all loopholes – for example, bypassing transports to third countries.

Publication of the EU Coucil