​December 2014

Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis European Commission B-1049 Brussels Belgium

Dear Commissioner,

Bureau Members Widespread breaches of EU legislation on the welfare of pigs - version 2 Legislative requirements regarding enrichment material and tail docking Janusz Wojciechowski MEP Honorary Presidents:

In March 2014, we sent a letter to Commissioner Borg concerning the above mentioned Honorary Secretary: issue (please find a copy enclosed). We received an answer from Commissioner Borg in April 2014 (please find a copy enclosed).

MEP In his letter, the Commissioner mentioned that the Commission was conducting an on- Jacqueline Foster MEP going work on guidelines which would be finalised in summer of this year. We have so Michela Giuffrida MEP Anja Hazekamp MEP far still not seen these guidelines. This is why we are now addressing the Commission Esther de Lange MEP again to obtain an explication and to know what the status is on this matter. Jörg Leichried MEP Marlene Mizzi MEP Sirpa Piekäinen MEP We fear, however, that guidelines may not, on their own, be sufficient to achieve a proper level of compliance with Directive 2008/120. The legislation has been in force for over eleven years and continues to be ignored by most pig farmers. It may very well be that a sector that is content to breach legislation will not feel obliged to respect Eurogroup for Animals guidelines. Therefore, the Commission must act to sanction the Member States that do 6, rue des Patriotes not respect Directive 2008/120.

Furthermore, there is a danger that the pig sector will try, during the Commission’s inter- services consultation, to have the guidelines weakened. We would be grateful for your www.animalwelfareintergroup.eu [email protected] assurance that you will insist that the guidelines must be firmly based on the Scientific Reports and Opinions of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). These set out clearly what steps must be taken by farmers to comply with the Directive’s requirements on enrichment and tail docking.

Reports by the Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office and animal welfare organisations have for many years made it clear that many EU pig farmers do not comply with the requirement in Directive 2008/120 that pigs must be provided with enrichment materials and the Directive’s ban on routine tail docking. Similarly, it is clear that many Member States make no serious attempt to enforce these provisions.

We have since our first letter seen a dossier from July 2014 which has been sent to you by Compassion in World Farming (please also find this enclosed). This contains recent photos from the pig sector’s own journals and websites in seven Member States. The photos clearly show many farms:

• with no enrichment at all or with just metal chains despite the fact that the Commission has made it clear that metal chains do not constitute effective enrichment and thus do not, when used on their own, fulfill the Directive’s requirements • in which all the pigs that can be seen have been tail docked

The current situation is not only damaging to animal welfare but the continuing failure of the EU to secure compliance with this Directive is manifestly unfair on those farmers who do comply with this legislation as they find themselves at a competitive disadvantage compared with those farmers who ignore the law.

We believe that the Commission must now take additional steps to press the Member States to enforce this legislation in a manner that results in compliance being the norm rather than the exception.

In our view it would be helpful for these steps to include asking the Member States:

• what measures they have taken under Article 54 of Regulation 882/2004 on official controls when they have identified non-compliance with these provisions in order to ensure that the operator remedies the situation • what information and instructions they give to staff performing official controls under Article 8 of Regulation 882/2004 as regards what constitutes compliance with the requirements on enrichment and tail docking • what sanctions they have imposed. The Commission should consider whether those sanctions are effective, proportionate and dissuasive as required by Article 55 of Regulation 882/2004. The Commission cannot tell Member States what sanctions to impose but it should assure that those sanctions are indeed effective and dissuasive.

In addition, the Commission should institute infringement proceedings in the case of those Member States that are taking no effective steps to secure compliance.

The undersigned Members of the European Parliament would very much appreciate to have a meeting in January 2015 with the Commissioner to discuss the future steps of the Commission in person. Please pay attention to the fact that this letter is signed by Members from all different political groups and of 20 different nationalities. The names are listed in random order.

Yours sincerely,

1. Jeppe Kofod MEP () Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

2. Janusz Wojciechowski MEP (Poland) European Conservatives and Reformists Group

3. Bas Eickhout MEP (Netherlands) Group of the Greens / European Free Alliance

4. Bart Staes MEP (Belgium) Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

5. Sirpa Pietikäinen MEP (Finland) Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)

6. Keith Taylor MEP (United Kingdom) Group of the Greens/European Free Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

7. Catherine Bearder MEP (United Kingdom) Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

8. Georges Bach MEP (Luxembourg) Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)

9. Linda McAvan MEP (United Kingdom) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

10. Jörg Leichtfried MEP (Austria) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

11. David Martin MEP (United Kingdom) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

12. Stefan Eck MEP (Germany) Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left

13. Pavel Poc MEP (Czech Republic) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

14. Anneliese Dodds MEP (United Kingdom) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

15. Paul Brannen MEP (United Kingdom) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

16. Margrete Auken MEP (Denmark) Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

17. Claudiu Ciprian Tănăsescu MEP (Romania) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

18. Marit Paulsen MEP (Sweden) Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Democrats for Europe

19. Miltiadis Kyrkos MEP (Greece) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

20. Ivo Vajgl MEP (Slovenia) Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

21. Anja Hazekamp MEP ( Netherlands) Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left

22. Rikke Karlsson MEP (Denmark) European Conservatives and Reformists Group

23. Fredrick Federley MEP (Sweden) Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

24. Heidi Hautala MEP (Finland) Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

25. Dominique Bilde MEP (France) Non-Attached Member

26. Sophie Montel MEP (France) Non-Attached Member

27. Kostas Chrysogonos MEP (Greece) Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left

28. Beata Gosiewska MEP (Poland) European Conservatives and Reformists Group

29. Stanislav Ozog MEP (Poland) European Conservatives and Reformists Group

30. Karin Kadenbach MEP (Austria) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

31. Claude Turmes MEP (Luxembourg) Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

32. Marlene Mizzi MEP (Malta) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

33. Jytte Guteland MEP (Sweden) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

34. Isabella Adinolfi MEP (Italy) Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy Group

35. Petras Austrevicius MEP (Lithuania) Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

36. Ernest Urtasun MEP (Spain) Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

37. Henna Virkkunen MEP (Finland) Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats)

38. Michela Giuffrida MEP (Italy) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

39. Julie Ward MEP (United Kingdom) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

40. Georgi Pirinski MEP (Bulgaria) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

41. Seb Dance MEP (United Kingdom) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

42. Neena Gill MEP (United Kingdom) Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats

43. MEP (Denmark) European Conservatives and Reformists Group

44. Julie Girling MEP (United Kingdom) European Conservatives and Reformists Group

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