The Committee of Inquiry on the Protection of Animals during Transport elected on Wednesday its Chair and four Vice-Chairs for its year-long term.
The bureau of the committee will consist of its Chair Tilly Metz (Greens/EFA, LU), the first Vice-Chair Marlene Mortler (EPP, DE), the second Vice-Chair Anja Hazekamp (GUE/NGL, NL), the third Vice-Chair Mohammed Chahim (S&D, NL) and the fourth Vice-Chair Martin Hojsík (RE, SK).
Upon her election Ms Metz said: “I am very happy and honoured to be Chair of the Inquiry Committee on Animal Transport. I am really looking forward to this (…) very important work. People are waiting for us on this topic. (…) We don’t have a lot of time but we have a lot of work (…) We are all eager to go on working (…) so, let’s go.”
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The first ordinary meeting of the newly constituted Animal Transport Inquiry Committee could take place already on 15 October (tbc).
The committee, formally set up by Parliament’s decision on 19 June 2020, must submit its final report within 12 months from the moment of being established, so by 19 June 2021.
Mandate of the ANIT committee
The Committee of Inquiry on the Protection of Animals during Transport should investigate alleged violations in the application of European Union law on the protection of animals during transport and related operations within and outside the EU, including by air, road, rail and sea. It will focus on how EU rules are being implemented by member states and whether the EU Commission is enforcing them properly.
The committee will look into the EU Commission’s alleged failure to act upon the evidence that EU rules on moving live animals across the EU and to third countries are being seriously and systematically infringed. It will investigate a suspected lack of implementation and enforcement of EU provisions on space allowance and headroom for transported animals, on their watering, feeding and bedding, and on temperature and ventilation system during transport.
Thirty full members of the committee and substitute MEPs could examine how the Commission and member states ensure compliance with EU rules on handling of transported animals, on long distance journeys, on preventing delays, and on transport of unfit animals and animals that have not yet been weaned. They can also inquire into the alleged failure of the EU’s executive and national authorities to enforce EU rules on welfare of transported animals also outside the Union, when moving live animals from EU to non-EU countries.
