8hours

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8hours was a Europe-wide animal welfare campaign with the aim of legally limiting the transport times of farm animals within the European Union to a maximum of eight hours. For this purpose, signatures were collected within the EU and the "Written Declaration 49/2011" was submitted to the EU Parliament.

Structure of the campaign

8hours was initiated in 2008 by the Danish EU parliamentarian Dan Jørgensen and one of the deputy chairmen of the "EU Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals".

The campaign is carried out on two levels:

  1. Collection of signatures from EU citizens, mainly online via social networks , but also at information stands
  2. Collection of signatures from EU parliamentarians in support of the "Written Declaration 2011/49".

Animal welfare organizations

8hours is actively supported by over 80 animal welfare organizations in Europe. In view of the strong fragmentation of the national and European animal welfare scene, in which animal welfare campaigns on the same topics are usually completely uncoordinated, the broad support for 8hours is a novelty. One problem with the campaign, however, is that it relies almost exclusively on the Internet as a means of dissemination. One of the biggest supporters of the campaign in Germany, the German Animal Welfare Association , has a large number of elderly people among its 800,000 members who, however, have no access to the Internet.

Eu Parliament

At the beginning of the 8hours campaign, some EU parliamentarians showed themselves to be supporters. Since mid-September 2011, members of the European Parliament have officially shown their support for "8hours" on the campaign website. Of the 736 EU parliamentarians in the European Parliament (7th electoral period 2009-2014), 133 EU parliamentarians from 8 parties from 18 of 27 countries are on the list of supporters.

All previous attempts within the EU have failed due to resistance from several member states from all regions of the EU. Until the beginning of March 2012, less than 33% of the German EU parliamentarians officially announced their support for the campaign on the 8hours website.

More important for the parliamentary process was the "Written Declaration 49/2011 on the setting of an upper limit of eight hours for the transport of animals for slaughter in the European Union", issued by the 8hours initiators at the end of 2011 in the Brussels EU area. This declaration was signed by 395 EU parliamentarians by the deadline of mid-March 2012 and thus achieved more than the required majority. In December 2012, the EU Parliament issued a resolution calling on the Commission to implement the maximum limit of eight hours. MEPs also recognized that a maximum journey time of eight hours alone is not enough to improve animal welfare. This means that the way is open for a change in the law regarding the duration of EU-wide animal transports.

Situation in Germany

In the past, various EU countries have advocated limiting animal transport times to 8 hours. In Germany, too, politicians from various parties have been calling for an EU-wide 8-hour limit since the beginning of the mass transport of farm animals in the early 1990s. Since 2000, various state governments have repeatedly pointed out the need for time limits in the German Bundesrat. In 2010 the Federal Government informed the Federal Council that the BMELV was in favor of "avoiding the transport of live animals over long distances" without, however, proposing a time regulation. In April 2011, Bündnis90 / Die Grünen submitted an application to the Bundestag with the request that the federal government should a. within the EU without exception to limit animal transport to 8 hours. The request was rejected. In June 2011, Bündnis90 / Die Grünen entered into a federal parliamentary group decision u. a. for the 8-hour rule in the EU. In September 2011 the parliamentary group Die Linke submitted a further motion to limit the EU transport times to 4 hours. This application was also rejected.

outlook

The report presented in the European Parliament at the end of 2011 on the "Impact of EU Regulation No. 1/205 on the protection of animals during transport" was largely seen as a confirmation of the existing legislation. The report did not address the long transport times. With the adoption of "Written Declaration 49/2011" in March 2012, another milestone in the political struggle to limit the transport times of so-called farm animals within the EU has been reached.

literature

  • Focke, Herrmann: Animal Welfare in Germany: Label fraud ?! - Dedicated to the tormented creature. 2007, ISBN 978-3-939430-93-3
  • Animals' Angels eV: 8 hours are more than enough! Europe calls for an end to long-distance transports of live animals! 2012, ISBN 978-3-9814946-6-2
    • engl. Edition: Animals' Angels eV: 8 hours is more than enough! Europa calls for an end to long-distance transports for live animals! 2012, ISBN 978-3-9814946-6-2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ EU Parliament: database of written declarations> P number search: 2011 49
  2. ↑ Homepage: EU Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals
  3. ↑ (PDF; 50 kB) Written declaration 2011/49: Setting an upper limit of eight hours for the transport of animals for slaughter in the European Union (November 30, 2011) ( Memento of January 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Official 8hours supporter list ( Memento from September 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ Written Declaration 49/2011 ( Memento from April 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Better transport conditions for animals, more severe penalties for violations , December 12, 2012
  7. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: (PDF; 578 kB) Federal Council Protocol November 7, 2003, p. 443: CDU Minister Stächele (Baden-Württemberg): "The transport of animals for slaughter throughout the EU is restricted to a maximum of eight hours limit."  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bundesrat.de@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bundesrat.de  
  8. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: (PDF; 246 kB) Federal Council Protocol November 6, 2009, p. 415: Minister of State Hering (Rhineland-Palatinate): "" In future, animal transports should be allowed to take a maximum of eight hours. "  ( Page no longer retrievable , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bundesrat.de@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bundesrat.de  
  9. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: (PDF; 67 kB) Federal Council April 14, 2010, information from the Federal Government (CDU / FDP): "The BMELV is fundamentally in favor of avoiding the transport of live animals over long distances and after Possibility to replace it with meat transport. "  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bundesrat.de@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bundesrat.de  
  10. ^ The resolutions of the Bundestag on October 20. Animal welfare during animal transport. In: www.bundestag.de. German Bundestag, accessed on July 6, 2013 .
  11. ↑ (PDF; 86 kB) Bündnis90 / Die Grünen: Making livestock farming animal-friendly (June 7, 2011) ( Memento of December 3, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ (PDF; 49 kB) parliamentary group Die Linke: Reduce animal transport - improve animal welfare (September 5, 2011)
  13. ↑ (PDF; 1.9 MB) Study on the impact of Regulation No1 / 205 on the protection of animals during transport (April 2011)