The right-wing majority Senate on Wednesday rejected an environmental bill for "ethical breeding, socially just and concerned with animal welfare", putting "the welfare of breeders" against its "noble objectives".
Carried by Esther Benbassa, the text was examined within the framework of a parliamentary “niche” reserved for the environmental group.
The senator regretted that the upper house "is so far from the demands of the population, the demands of young people, the demands of consumers", while animal welfare seemed to have become the new hobby of politicians.
Prohibit crushing of male chicks
The text proposed a device to gradually achieve a breeding offering access to the outdoors to all animals by 2040. It also aimed to cap the maximum duration of transport of live animals in France at eight hours for the majority. species and four for poultry.
The bill also intended to prohibit any elimination of male chicks by grinding or gassing as of January 1, 2022. The government had promised more than a year ago that this decried practice would be banned by “the end of 2021”, but the sector will not be ready within this period.
Finally, the text created a transition support fund for animal welfare, in order to support breeders.
“In France, 80% of the animals are in intensive breeding.
(...).
These animals undergo
cruel and sometimes intolerable treatment
in
farm-factories
, ”said Esther Benbassa, stressing that“ farmers are the first to suffer from factory farming ”.
A context of "farmers' unhappiness"
The rapporteur of the text, Marie-Christine Chauvin (LR), said to share "fully the objectives" of the text, but called for "to listen to our breeders".
Emphasizing the “noble” objectives of the text, Henri Cabanel (RDSE with a radical majority) questioned the “opportunity” of this text in the current context of “farmers' unhappiness”.
It "promotes suspicion with regard to farmers and it is regrettable", accused Marie Evrard (RDPI majority in Marche), for whom "we can not take isolated cases of animal abuse to discredit" all the French breeding.
"Rather than denigrate him, let's respect him", urged Laurent Duplomb (LR), breeder by profession.
"The time for agriculture is long, we must ensure transitions adapted to the market, otherwise we will quickly be faced with an increase in imported products at lower cost from countries that do not respect our principles", argued Alain Griset. , Minister in charge of SMEs.
The minister took the opportunity to confirm "the intention" to see the bill against animal abuse on the agenda of the Senate "before the end of the year".
