One cannot help but notice that George Pullicino’s exposition of his first year as minister in this legislature was held at the Animal After-care Centre at Ta’ Qali. Work on this centre is now well advanced and is a concrete (no pun intended) translation of the commitment towards the well being of animals by the government. In the very near future, we will have a centre where certain animals will have after care facilities that reflect a society that cares.

We are becoming ever more aware of our responsibility towards animals and their welfare. But which animals are we talking about? Being an animal lover myself, the topic frequently comes up in conversations during my regular house visits, especially where there are pets roaming around the house and helping to create a home. It is interesting to note that the degree of awareness on animal welfare is very often limited to the animals we see or are used to seeing. Cats and dogs, having lived side by side with us for centuries, rightly enjoy a special place in our hearts, as do horses. We are all concerned at the plight of abandoned dogs, stray cats and, with summer approaching, the plight of the karozzin horses whose conditions could so easily be drastically improved with even a minimum of care. However, these causes are already very high on the public agenda, and while being fully on board with them, today I would like to point out that there are other animals, who are out of sight, but should not be out of mind.

European Union animal welfare laws have established strict standards on the way that animals are bred in the whole agricultural chain of production. Public concern vis-à-vis the Common Agricultural Policy in Europe was seen to revolve around three issues, namely the environment, food safety and animal welfare. It is no surprise then that the 2003 CAP, when moving from quantity to quality-based support of agricultural production, established obligations for animal welfare standards as a pre requisite for the payment of subsidies. Naturally enough, the application of these higher standards of animal welfare meant an increase in production costs for European breeders, putting them at a competitive disadvantage with imports where standards of animal welfare in intensive production are unregulated, uncontrolled and unacceptable.

Very often we find that certain so-called liberal exponents in the European Parliament push for the opening of the European food market to third country imports with no strings attached. This is doubly unfair. It is unfair on European, including Maltese producers, who, while having to observe (and rightly so) animal welfare standards such as density, thus disadvantaging their economies of scale, have to compete with floods of imports where such controls do not exist. It is also unfair with regard to non-European animals, since we find that while the chicken bred in Malta enjoys a pre-established living space with minimum dimensions strictly controlled and adhered to, this is not happening outside Europe.

One may ask what can we do about this? Should I be elected to the European Parliament, I will make sure that I will lend my voice to animal welfare concerns, not only for domestic animals, but also for the proper and dignified treatment of animals that are in the agricultural food chain. My position would be that we, as Europeans, should always strive to treat our own animals better, and I would work for educational programmes and legislative proposals which would help achieve this. We should also support the animal welfare measures taken by Maltese and European farmers by treating all animals as equal. The imposition of the same animal welfare obligations to third country imports is not a restriction to trade, but the EU market should use its purchasing clout to ensure that our money as consumers does not go towards the financing of inhumane practices in animal breeding. The least that can be done is a proper labelling system whereby the consumer can make an informed decision knowing full well that the product bought came from a production, such as that in Malta, which strictly adheres to the animal welfare standards we expect. As consumers, we can make sure and check where the product is coming from, and, in our own interests and in the interest of our producers, as well as out of genuine concern for all animals, be prepared to put in that extra penny, and buy animal welfare!