05/07/14 Invitation to Signing the Pledge
Animal Friends invites European Parliament candidates to sign the Animal Welfare Pledge
As a member organization of Eurogroup for Animals, Animal Friends is contacting all candidates for European Parliament elections in May to sign the Animal Welfare Pledge and thus state that animal protection is present in their program. So far many MEPs, Croatian included, signed the Animal Welfare Pledge, which can be viewed at www.voteforanimals.eu.
With Croatia's accession to the European Union the campaigns for the rights of animals crossed the border and got a new, European dimension, and now Animal Friends officially and fully participate in campaigns at the European level. For the third year now Animal Friends cooperates with the European federation for the protection of animals Eurogroup for Animals, who with its 30 years of experience and hard work is the Secretary of the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals (www.animalwelfareintergroup.eu) in which also you can participate if you become a Member of the European Parliament.
EU citizens are concerned about animal welfare: they have signed petitions, joined campaigns and sent numerous letters to Members of the European Parliament since it was created. As a result, the European Parliament has for years supported many initiatives to improve the welfare of animals. The European Parliament being the only EU Institution directly elected by citizens, it is essential that it continues to respond positively to these expectations from the citizens they represent. It is thus vital that members of the European Parliament and the political groups they belong to clearly state how they plan to improve animal welfare in their programmes for 2014-2019.
As the Federation of Animal Protection Organisations in the European Union, Eurogroup for Animals believes that there is a need for both new policies and legislative initiatives and for better enforcement of existing ones. We believe that future members of the European Parliament and their parties should show their engagement in favour of improved animal welfare as a central factor to promote good animal and public health, as well as environment protection. This would be fully in line with Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which states that: "In formulating and implementing the Union’s agriculture, fisheries, transport, internal market, research and technological development and space policies, the Union and the Member States shall, since animals are sentient beings, pay full regard to the welfare requirements of animals, while respecting the legislative or administrative provisions and customs of the Member States relating in particular to religious rites, cultural traditions and regional heritage."
