On May 14 this year, together with NGOs: Eurogroup for Animals, Compassion in World Farming Poland, Open Cages, Humane Society Poland, and REV Expert Council member Prof. Andrzej Elżanowski, we took part in a meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The meeting concerned consultations on the draft regulation on the protection of animals during transport published by the European Commission on December 7, 2023. As a reminder:

(a) The European Commission, instead of a full, transparent and reliable revision of legislation for so-called farm animals, that is, in fact, food safety, has decided to work in a heavily truncated manner, including work on the revision of regulations on animal transport;

(b) The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development announced a national consultation, but did not invite any NGO to participate. The social side was left out, and at the Meeting of the Subcommittee on Animal Welfare and Protection of Animal Production in Poland, a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development indicated that the Ministry’s mission is to protect farmers and look after economic interests;

c) On May 14, we addressed the most important issue: the exclusion of the public’s voice and the prioritization of the debate on agribusiness revenues over a fair debate on food and agriculture, because agriculture cannot be monopolized by corporations and the animal agriculture sector. Consumer people, farmers , citizens , people living in rural areas – all groups must be equally included in advocating for our future and food and food security.

REV’s position on the transportation of live animals

Credit: unsplash