BRUSSELS Two ex-cargo ships left Spain in December with more than 2,600 cattle on board continue to roam the Mediterranean because they were unable to dock in the ports of destination in Turkey and Libya due to suspected livestock disease.
One of the two was spotted in recent days off the coast of Augusta, in Sicily, and then in Cagliari, in Sardinia.
This is what
was denounced, in the online meeting with the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament, by the lawyer Manuela Giacomini on behalf of the Foundation for the welfare of animals
.
At Giacomini's urgent request, the Italian government attempted an inspection but the ship left before it could be carried out.
The petition presented by the Foundation to the specific EP commission now asks the EU to initiate infringement procedures against France, Croatia, Romania, Spain and Slovenia for violating the rules on animal transport and to draw up precise guidelines on the controls that must be performed by public officials.
"In the last two months we have seen yet another systematic violation" of the European regulation, "with very serious consequences for the animals being transported", said Giacomini.
During his speech before the EP commission, Andrea Gavinelli, on behalf of the EU Commission, said that
EU Commissioner Stella Kyriakides has already written to the Spanish and Cypriot health ministers to "encourage an intervention as quickly as possible" and "send a report" to Brussels.
"Any additional element will help us improve the application of the legislation, even in the case of exports of live animals to third countries", added Gavinelli.
Eleonora Evi, MEP of the Greens, also intervened defining the episode one of the "most emblematic cases" that "represent the norm rather than the exception".
The petition of the Foundation, which remains open, is part of a series of complaints by various animal rights groups presented to the European Parliament, for a commission of inquiry to be established and for the transport of live animals to be better regulated in order to protect their well-being.
