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Ponedjeljak, 10. srpnja 2023.-Strasbourg

17. Europska građanska inicijativa „Spasite kozmetiku proizvedenu bez okrutnosti – obvežite se na Europu u kojoj nema ispitivanja na životinjama” (rasprava)
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Der Präsident. – Als nächster Punkt der Tagesordnung folgt die Aussprache über die Europäische Bürgerinitiative „Für den Schutz kosmetischer Mittel ohne Tierquälerei und ein Europa ohne Tierversuche“ ().

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Maria Spyraki, on behalf of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. – Mr President, Commissioner Jourová, the ‘Save Cruelty—Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’ European Citizens’ Initiative has gained more than onemillion signatures from at least seven Member States, and its organisers presented this case in a hearing before the ENVI Committee on 25May, and you were present, Madam Commissioner.

Members of the initiative expressed strong concerns that, despite the existing legislation banning animal testing for cosmetics, in vivo testing is on the rise. The initiative calls on the Commission to protect and strengthen the cosmetic animal testing ban and initiate a legislative change for all cosmetic ingredients without resorting to animal testing, also to transform the EU chemical legislation, in particular REACH, by managing chemicals without the addition of new animal testing requirements.

Third, to modernise science in the EU by setting the scheme with a new legislative proposal in order to plot a roadmap to phase out all animal testing in the EU before the end of the current legislative term.

While most colleagues in the ENVI Committee supported the initiative, there are concerns focused on the issue of visibility and reliability of the alternatives, particularly with regards to health and pharmaceuticals. The need for more research, of course, before completely phasing out of practice is undeniable, according to my opinion.

It is important for us in ENVI to ensure full implementation of existing legislation and to propose new initiatives to promote alternatives to animal testing. We have to increase the uptake and implementation of non—animal methods and also to overcome the default reliance on animal testing, particularly in light of the revision of [inaudible], which is in the pipeline, and also on REACH. We also need to ensure a consistent approach on the question of broadening the scope of the ban of non—EU countries.

The Commission has also to do her job to accelerate the transition to non—animal testing by developing the guidelines in cooperation with the OECD and to consider alternative methods in upcoming initiatives. Increased cooperation and investments in the use of innovative technologies in [inaudible] origin is needed.

Dear colleagues, the current strategy is not sufficiently and effectively implemented. We need a holistic approach for phasing out animal testing. We also are convinced that animal testing would be phased out in due time, recognising the current limitations, particularly to the pharma sector, for important and rare disease.

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Mazaly Aguilar, en nombre de la Comisión de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural. – Señor presidente, esta iniciativa, que parte de un gran número de ciudadanos de los diferentes Estados, está pidiendo a la Comisión proteger y reforzar la prohibición de la experimentación con animales para la industria de cosméticos, pero también está pidiendo modernizar la ciencia de la Unión Europea, eliminando progresivamente todos los ensayos con animales antes de que finalice la actual legislatura.

Desde una perspectiva científica, sobre todo en lo relacionado con las enfermedades cerebrales y, en concreto, con la enfermedad de Parkinson, una prohibición total del uso de animales en la investigación biomédica sería un error. Aunque se han logrado avances considerables utilizando alternativas a estos ensayos, la mayor parte de lo que puede aprenderse sobre el cerebro y su comportamiento sigue dependiendo directa o indirectamente de la investigación en modelos animales.

La eliminación, aunque sea progresiva, del uso de animales en la investigación médica tendría consecuencias negativas muy importantes y afectaría a los avances en la mejora de la calidad de vida de los muchos enfermos de estas afecciones cerebrales y neurológicas. Tenemos que garantizar que la prohibición de experimentación con animales para cosméticos no se extienda a la investigación médica.

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Ana Miranda, en nombre de la Comisión de Peticiones. – Señor presidente, señora comisaria, en nombre de la Comisión de Peticiones del Parlamento Europeo quisiera aprovechar esta oportunidad para felicitar a los organizadores por su buen trabajo y por haber recaudado el apoyo de 1,2 millones de europeos y europeas comprometidos por eliminar los ensayos con animales en la UE antes del final de la actual legislatura. La herramienta ICE (Iniciativa Ciudadana Europea) vuelve a dar visibilidad a las iniciativas ciudadanas promoviendo la democracia participativa.

Si bien el fomento formal de los métodos de ensayos en animales es exclusivo de la UE, existen obstáculos burocráticos para su aceptación. Su uso no se aplica adecuadamente y la financiación para su desarrollo está siendo insuficiente. Algunos Estados miembros han adoptado medidas nacionales de ejecución que garantizan un elevado nivel de protección de los animales utilizados con fines científicos, mientras que otros solo aplican los requisitos mínimos.

A pesar de los avances logrados gracias a los ensayos con animales en el desarrollo de tratamientos médicos y vacunas, incluyendo las vacunas contra la COVID-19, los ciudadanos europeos apoyan la prohibición total y global del uso de animales en investigación. Es necesario reemplazar los ensayos con animales por métodos alternativos avanzados para cumplir con los objetivos sanitarios medioambientales establecidos en los distintos planes europeos.

Para lograr el objetivo de la Directiva 2010/63/UE, es crucial mejorar la coordinación entre los Estados miembros y las partes interesadas para desarrollar un plan de acción a nivel de la UE que promueva la reducción, el perfeccionamiento y la sustitución de los procedimientos con animales vivos. Esto debe hacerse sin comprometer la protección de la salud humana y el medio ambiente, ni poner en riesgo la soberanía tecnológica de la UE.

Es necesario fortalecer también el Espacio Europeo de Investigación y basar el plan en la investigación realizada en la UE hasta ahora. También son necesarios mecanismos de financiamiento preferencial para los métodos sin animales en todas las iniciativas de investigación.

Las instituciones académicas tienen un papel esencial y deben promover alternativas a los ensayos con animales, difundiendo nuevos conocimientos y prácticas. Debe priorizarse la educación y capacitación de científicos.

Hay muchos elementos que analizar y estoy segura de que la presentación de hoy será muy útil y constructiva.

Puhetta johti HEIDI HAUTALA
varapuhemies

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Věra Jourová, Vice-President of the Commission. – Madam President, honourable Members of Ϸվ, thank you for the invitation to come and speak on behalf of the European Commission at this plenary debate on the initiative ‘Save cruelty—free cosmetics – Commit to a Europe without animal testing’.

First of all, I would like to thank the European Ϸվ for having organised a successful public hearing on 25May, and on this occasion I also want to congratulate again the organisers for collecting 1.2 million signatures in record time. We heard from them their arguments. We listened very carefully. The organisers had a chance to present their initiative and the different Members to express their views also, and today’s plenary debate gives me and my colleagues preparing the Commission official reply another opportunity to listen carefully to the contributions and interventions from various Members.

This initiative reminds us that animal welfare is a significant concern for European citizens and a longstanding principle in European legislation. It requests to strengthen the animal testing ban under the Cosmetics Regulation. It then addresses all legislation requiring animal testing for chemical safety assessments, REACH legislation on plant protection products, biocides, pharmaceuticals and others. Lastly, it extends to basic and applied research, including biomedical research, training and education. On the first issue, related to cosmetics, it is important to note that the Cosmetics Regulation already bans animal testing for cosmetics products and ingredients for the safety assessment requirements of that regulation. However, other legislation may still require animal testing, for instance to assess hazards to workers’ health or the environment.

Regarding chemical safety assessments under different legislation, I would like to underline that already today animal testing is allowed only as a last resort. However, as experts of agencies like the European Chemicals Agency or Member State authorities confirm, we are not yet able to fully identify all hazards to health and the environment without some animal testing.

The good news is that we have seen significant progress in the development of non-animal methods in recent years. The workshop on new approach methodologies that the European Chemicals Agency organised with the Commission and stakeholders in June undoubtedly showed that the funding of research for alternatives to animal testing is highlighted in the initiative. I want to emphasise that the Commission already actively supports the development of such methods through research funding. Over the past two decades, the European Union has allocated over EUR1 billion to more than 300 research projects.

Today’s exchange of views will feed into our reflection. We will present our general conclusions, as well as the actions that we intend to take in response to the three objectives of this initiative, in our communication later this month. I wish you a fruitful discussion.

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Marlene Mortler, im Namen der PPE-Fraktion. – Frau Präsidentin, Kollegen! Wir haben viel zu lange geschwiegen. Wir haben zu wenig öffentlich informiert: Auch wenn wir Tierversuche in Europa einstellen– auch wenn sie noch notwendig sind– diese Forschung wird deshalb nicht aufhören. Dann findet sie eben außerhalb Europas statt, zu schlechteren Bedingungen, zu niedrigeren Standards, und diese führen wiederum zu weiteren Abhängigkeiten von Drittstaaten – so Spitzenwissenschaftler letzte Woche in Brüssel.

Gott sei Dank sind nur 4% der Versuche für die Tiere schwer belastend. Doch alle Erkenntnisse kommen den Menschen oder den Patienten zugute. Aber auch Chemikalien wie Lösungsmittel, Weichmacher, Konservierungsstoffe sowie Industriechemikalien müssen auf ihre Giftigkeit getestet werden, bevor Menschen damit in Kontakt kommen.

Replace, reduce, refine: Die REACH-Verordnung verlangt die Prüfung tausender Stoffe. Sie sagt aber ausdrücklich, dass die Tierversuche auf ein notwendiges Minimum eingeschränkt werden. Doch Computer-Modellierungen können Grundlagenforschung noch nicht ersetzen, und Organoide nicht den gesamten menschlichen Körper mit seinem komplexen Zellsystem. Ich will jedenfalls nicht, dass wir unsere Probleme in andere Kulturkreise verlegen und dort statt an Tieren an Menschen getestet wird, die auf Geld angewiesen sind.

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Niels Fuglsang, on behalf of the S&D Group. – Madam President, dear colleagues, dear Commissioner, today we stand on the shoulders of more than 1.4 million European citizens who have signed the Citizens’ Initiative and demand that we treat animals in a more respectful and a more decent way.

There is a broad consensus, even among politicians, that animals are sentient beings. Unfortunately, the current legislation does not reflect that obvious fact. The use of animals in cosmetics and in other chemical tests is an example of just that. Even though – as the Commissioner states – we have explicit legislation saying that we cannot use animals, banning animal tests when we talk about cosmetics, we still see it happening today.

According to the Commission’s own research, we have the number of animals being used for scientific purposes stagnating at 7.4 million animals per year. That’s not good enough. We need to use the alternatives. They exist. Therefore, I would like to ask the Commissioner: can we expect that the Commission finally commits to a coordinated plan to accelerate the transition to non—animal science?

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Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, en nombre del Grupo Renew. – Señora presidenta, señora comisaria, quiero expresar en este turno mi rotunda oposición al contenido de esta iniciativa y abogar por contestarla desde la transparencia y los criterios con los que trabajan los profesionales de la ciencia.

Desde hace años, la Asociación Europea para la Investigación Animal promueve y cumple a rajatabla las normas de bienestar aplicables a los animales de laboratorio. Practica, además, el código de las tres erres: reemplazo, reducción y refinamiento de los procedimientos, fomentando el uso de métodos alternativos.

¿Qué hacer cuando no hay otra opción? Escuchemos iniciativas como «Compromiso por la ciencia», impulsada por el Consejo Europeo del Cerebro, que nos pide apoyo para la investigación sobre las enfermedades neurodegenerativas y psiquiátricas. Recordemos, con la comunidad científica, que la experimentación con animales de laboratorio ha salvado y seguirá salvando vidas; entre ellas, sin ninguna duda, las de personas que, con su mejor voluntad, han podido firmar o apoyarían esta iniciativa ciudadana sobre el uso de animales para la ciencia.

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Tilly Metz, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – Madam President, dear Commissioner, 10 years ago, the European Union took the decision to completely ban animal testing for cosmetic products and ingredients, becoming the first market in the world to do so. It might feel like a symbolic move or even an unimportant issue to some, but for me – as a European who deeply cares for animals – it was a proud and happy moment.

This will be one area where European consumers could buy products in good conscience because they didn’t have to worry if animals had suffered in labs. But then they discovered that this is not the case at all, as animal tests still are performed for workers’ safety. This is a legal inconsistency that is also causing damage to the credibility of the Union and to the trust of our citizens.

Alternative testing methods exist and continue to be developed, and we should support them more. So I wait for the Commission that the announced roadmap is really among the answers that we will give on this ECI, and that we have a concrete step to phase out animal testing.

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Elżbieta Kruk, w imieniu grupy ECR. – Pani Przewodnicząca! Blisko 1,5 miliona osób podpisało europejską inicjatywę obywatelską mającą na celu zakończenie nie tylko okrutnego wykorzystywania zwierząt w testach kosmetycznych i chemicznych, lecz także wszelkich eksperymentów na zwierzętach. Żadna inna europejska inicjatywa obywatelska nie otrzymała takiego wsparcia w tak wielu krajach. Popierana jest również przez naukowców i przemysł. Oficjalnie w Europie nie prowadzi się testów kosmetyków na zwierzętach, to jednak nie cała prawda. Rocznie ponad 10 milionów zwierząt cierpi podczas eksperymentów prowadzonych w unijnych laboratoriach. Wiele składników kosmetyków to bowiem chemikalia, które podlegają innej regulacji zobowiązującej do prowadzenia testów na zwierzętach.

Tymczasem dziś można już bezpiecznie obejść się bez zadawania cierpień zwierzętom. Nowoczesne, alternatywne metody sprawdzania kosmetyków są efektywniejsze niż przestarzałe i okrutne doświadczenia na zwierzętach. Wesprzyjmy obywatelskie postulaty wzywające Komisję do zmiany przepisów i przedstawienia planu stopniowego wycofywania się ze wszelkich eksperymentów na zwierzętach, wspierania rozwoju i wdrażania nowych technologii, w tym przekierowania finansowania z badań na zwierzętach na metody alternatywne. Połóżmy kres cierpieniu milionów zwierząt w europejskich laboratoriach.

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Annika Bruna, au nom du groupe ID. – Madame la Présidente, les expériences sur les animaux pour tester des cosmétiques sont interdites depuis2013. Mais en2020, la Commission, dans les affaires Symrise, a contraint les industriels à tester les composants cosmétiques sur les animaux en invoquant le règlement REACH. Il nous faut donc sortir de l’ornière.

J’ai déjà eu l’occasion de présenter des solutions à la Commission, parmi lesquelles la possibilité pour l’Agence européenne des produits chimiques d’homologuer elle-même des méthodes alternatives aux tests sur les animaux, avec effet immédiat. La possibilité également pour le Laboratoire européen pour les alternatives à l’expérimentation animale d’homologuer ses méthodes, là encore avec un effet immédiat.

Je me suis rendue mardi dernier dans ce laboratoire qui est situé en Italie, à Ispra. Ces méthodes sont nombreuses –toxico-génomiques, organes sur puce et modèles de peau reconstituée, bioimpression, modélisation informatique ou encore simulation de mécanismes neurologiques.

Aujourd’hui, la science avance plus vite que le droit. Les méthodes alternatives se développent et sont reconnues comme fiables. Ce qui empêche de remplacer les tests sur les animaux, c’est l’inertie du droit et, il faut bien le reconnaître, l’inertie de la Commission européenne. Plus d’un million de citoyens ont les yeux rivés sur vous et attendent des réponses. Vous ne pouvez les ignorer.

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Sunčana Glavak (PPE). – Poštovana predsjedavajuća, poštovana povjerenice, kolegice i kolege, očito je da testiranje kozmetike na životinjama jest praksa koja izaziva zabrinutost među građanima diljem Europske unije. Osuđujemo, naravno, patnju i okrutnost koju životinje podnose u ime ljepote i sigurnosti proizvoda.

Prema podacima organizacije Prijatelji životinja, čuli smo različite podatke i brojke danas, međutim, ovo je nešto najsvježije, svake godine otprilike 35 tisuća životinja u Europi te milijuni širom svijeta izloženi su patnji zbog testiranja. Govorimo o kozmetičkim proizvodima ili njihovim sastojcima. Praksa je to koja nije samo okrutna, već je, više smo puta čuli ovdje, i zastarjela.

Postoje brojne alternative koje su dostupne i koje su napredovale u posljednjim desetljećima. Napredak znanosti i tehnologije omogućuje nam razvoj sofisticiranih in vitro metoda, organskih modela, računalnih simulacija koje su pouzdane, relevantne, a što je najbitnije, i etične.

Europska unija već ima naprednu regulativu koja zabranjuje testiranje kozmetičkih sastojaka na životinjama. Međutim, moramo ići dalje i pozivam stoga i Komisiju da napravi iskorak u tom smjeru prema gotovim kozmetičkim proizvodima koji se stavljaju na tržište. Budimo predvodnici onih etičkih standarda o kojima toliko govorimo i poticanja industrije da razvije održive alternative za testiranje.

Ova inicijativa vrijedna je, predstavlja korak naprijed prema etičkoj održivoj budućnosti i stoga je na nama da stvorimo Europu koja štiti životinje i to upravo jačanjem i promicanjem inovacija, a u tom smjeru išli smo četiri godine za vrijeme ove Komisije i ovog saziva parlamenta. Imamo novaca, imamo resurse, učinimo to.

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Beatrice Covassi (S&D). – Signora Presidente, onorevoli colleghi, sembra incredibile che ancora oggi nel 2023 dobbiamo discutere in questo Parlamento dell'utilizzo di animali come cavie per prodotti cosmetici, quando, già negli anni '90, venivano lanciate le prime linee non testate su animali.

L'Unione europea è all'avanguardia: tra il 2004 e il 2013 abbiamo messo al bando i test sugli animali per i prodotti cosmetici e i loro ingredienti; nel 2007 abbiamo incluso nei trattati il principio del benessere degli animali. Questo mentre nel mondo l'80% dei paesi non ha ancora normative in merito.

Eppure le nostre regole di fatto vengono eluse perché i cosmetici contengono anche ingredienti che ricadono sotto altre normative e vengono ancora testati su animali.

Oggi l'innovazione tecnologica ci permette già di testare in modo sicuro senza che nessun essere vivente debba soffrirne.

Da qui la lodevole iniziativa dei cittadini europei che discutiamo oggi, con oltre un milione e duecentomila firme e che lancia un fondato allarme.

Allora, cari colleghi, niente timidezze: abbracciamo una volta e per sempre un concetto di bellezza più profondo, dove il rispetto di ogni forma di vita possa essere terapeutico e trasformativo non solo dei nostri corpi, ma anche della nostra anima.

La nostra Europa sarà bella e grande nella misura in cui saprà essere sempre più dalla parte del rispetto della natura, degli ecosistemi, degli esseri viventi.

Pyynnöstä myönnettävät puheenvuorot

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Stanislav Polčák (PPE). – Paní předsedající, opravdu ohromující počet občanů nás vyzývá k tomu, abychom zakročili proti testování na zvířatech. Máme samozřejmě ke zvířatům jako živým tvorům projevovat respekt a úctu.

Já se připojuji k těmto občanům. Je nepochybné, že zde máme dvojí legislativu, jednu, která zakazuje toto testování, a druhou, která říká, že pro chemikálie musí povinně dojít k tomu testování na zvířeti. Myslím si, že je to taková zákonná forma obcházení, a bohužel mnozí producenti farmaceutického průmyslu tuto výjimku využívají velmi často.

Se zájmem jsem si poslechl vystoupení paní komisařky. Jsem velmi rád, že upozornila na ty alternativní metody a dokonce jejich možnosti financování výzkumu, které jsou k dispozici. Pojďme být skutečně důslednější. Zvyšme sankce za právě to obcházení zákona. Možná, že dokonce zpřísněme tu legislativu. To je, myslím, jednoznačné. A měli bychom skutečně zakázat některou kosmetiku na trhu, která nedodrží tato stanovená pravidla.

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Caroline Roose (Verts/ALE). – Madame la Présidente, le règlement cosmétique de2009 interdit des expérimentations animales sur les produits cosmétiques et sur leurs ingrédients. Il interdit aussi la mise sur le marché de produits qui avaient été testés ou dont les ingrédients avaient été testés sur des animaux. Pourtant, l’Agence européenne des produits chimiques continue d’exiger de certains fabricants qu’ils recourent à des tests sur les animaux. Rien aujourd’hui ne peut justifier que des tests sur les animaux soient pratiqués pour des cosmétiques.

Cela fait des années que les fabricants et les associations de protection des animaux alertent sur ce scandale. Aujourd’hui, grâce à la mobilisation des dizaines d’associations et plus d’un million de signatures de citoyennes et citoyens européens, nous en discutons enfin! Merci à eux.

L’initiative citoyenne européenne nous invite aussi à nous poser plus globalement la question des tests sur les animaux. Les alternatives existent. Elles sont même souvent plus fiables que les tests sur les animaux. Pourtant, les tests sur les animaux diminuent à peine. Nous avons besoin d’un plan d’action complet qui mêle formation des professionnels, financements publics et réglementation pour réduire significativement les tests sur les animaux.

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Mick Wallace (The Left). – Madam President, firstly, to debunk one of the key myths about this European Citizens’ Initiative, there have been claims that this proposal will be harmful and limiting to medical research with an outright ban on animal testing, which is untrue. Despite the ban on animal testing on cosmetic products it is an ongoing practice with certain ingredients that require testing by the European Chemicals Agency.

This initiative outlines a clear consumer demand to reduce mandatory chemical testing, with a proposal to transform and innovate EU chemicals regulation to ensure that human health and the environment are protected by managing chemicals without the barrier of new animal testing requirements, as outlined in a report by the European Environment Bureau.

This needs to be achieved through REACH regulation, which is responsible for testing requirements. So the revision of REACH legislation is crucial. But when will it happen? The Commission has been promising this for a while.

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Clare Daly (The Left). – Madam President, I know we heard from the Commissioner that the Commission is listening. But if you are, I wonder, are you really hearing? Because we know that the Commission and the European Chemicals Agency are still standing over animal testing under the REACH Regulation for chemicals used exclusively in cosmetics, for which there is a possibility of workforce exposure or a risk to the environment.

Now, this is a double standard and a joke. As colleagues have said, the European Union lauded the fact that we became a world leader 10years ago in banning cosmetics products being tested on animals. It is time for us to stop the double standards now. It is beyond time for us to respect the demand of the 1.2 million citizens who are demanding a legally binding act to end animal testing for cosmetic products and ingredients under REACH, including the safety of workers, and to put an end to the serious legal inconsistency that has been going on over the past period.

As colleagues have said, there are alternatives. We need to commit to a Europe without animal testing, and I really hope that the Commission comes up with a roadmap for that.

(Pyynnöstä myönnettävät puheenvuorot päättyvät)

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Věra Jourová, Vice-President of the Commission. – Madam President, honourable Members, let me thank you for this rich debate with interesting perspectives and well considered statements from the different speakers. Your views on the different aspects of the Citizens’ Initiative bring useful insights that we will take into account when finalising our response to the initiative.

So I can confirm I was not only listening; I also heard you. For us policy-makers, the support of citizens for a policy direction is key. This initiative reminds us how animal welfare remains a strong concern for European citizens, and we take that call very seriously. And not only this initiative – we had several initiatives in a row which concerned animals.

Coming back to this one, we are now in the final stage of the European Citizens’ Initiative cycle, which is to finalise the Commission’s formal answer to the initiative, covering our general conclusions as well as any action we may intend to take to follow up. This debate is timely because the College will have to adopt the communication by 25July, so very soon.

This will be the second initiative replied to this month, as the Commission adopted last week its reply to another initiative concerning animal welfare, which aims at ending the trade of loose shark fins – a horrible practice, barbaric. I think that it’s high time we react.

Before concluding, I am also glad to share with you that the Commission is currently examining one other successful initiative – Fur-Free Europe – to which the Commission will reply before the end of this year.

Citizens’ engagement in the EU is growing ever stronger and I hope that it will also be reflected in the next elections. Demonstrating that we take seriously their concerns and clearly explaining our decisions will be essential for their trust in the EU and their continued involvement. That is why I am always repeating that I admire the initiatives and the efforts of the organisers, because this is really a very important contribution to our work. Thank you again for this fruitful debate.

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Puhemies. – Keskustelu on päättynyt.

Posljednje ažuriranje: 29. siječnja 2024.Pravna obavijest-Politika zaštite privatnosti