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Eurogroup for Animal Welfare
The Eurogroup for Animal Welfare is the most influential European lobbying group in the field of animal welfare. Its objective is to work towards "..the introduction, implementation and enforcement of animal welfare legislation in the European Union". For the last 16 years Eurogroup has worked exclusively on political lobbying and has become very effective at making its voice heard in European politics.
It was set up in 1980 by the United Kingdom's Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals with the aim of extending their work into Europe. The idea was to provide a unified voice for animal welfare with which to lobby European political institutions. This is not a simple task because there are widely differing attitudes to animals across Europe. This may have resulted in some complicated internal politics with Eurogroup, but they have managed to achieve a substantial degree of common purpose.
In 1983 an all-party group of MEP's set up the Intergroup on Animal Welfare with Eurogroup providing the secretariat. The Intergroup meets regularly to discuss animal welfare issues and hear presentations from various interest groups on issues of political interest in the animal welfare field. There are many different Intergroups of MEP's, covering a wide range of subjects. However, the Intergroup on Animal Welfare is the best attended and most influential, attracting between 20 and 35 MEP's to their monthly meetings. The animal welfare issues covered at recent meetings include cosmetic testing, veal calves, leg-hold traps and laboratory primates.
In 1994, the Intergroup changed its name to the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals, broadening its area of interest to cover animal conservation issues, such as CITES, and endangered species. Some commentators have suggested that this was in response to the setting up of the Intergroup for Conservation and Development, which supported the idea of sustainable use of natural resources.
Eurogroup for Animal Welfare maintains a small office in Brussels, run by David Wilkins, the Director of Eurogroup. Wilkins was formerly the Chief Veterinary Officer of the RSPCA in Britain. Each country in the Eurogroup is represented by a single organisation covering almost all the EU Member States. In addition, the World Society for the Protection of Animals is a member of Eurogroup.
The Eurogroup takes a moderate and reasonable approach to animal welfare issues within Europe. They are well aware of the political wisdom which says that you can only change a system from inside, so they have been very careful to be part of the political system in Europe. They are invited to present opinion at many levels of the European Commission's activities and have official representation at the Council of Europe. Recently, they have initiated a joint project with the Federation of European Laboratory Animal Science Associations on the training of animal experimenters.
The emergence of the European Coalition to End Animal Experiments in 1994 has added to the political pressure on Eurogroup. The Coalition was founded and is dominated by the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection. It is more radical in its demands and has established a level of support amongst those MEP's who look for simple answers to complex questions about the use of animals in research and testing. Despite the challenge this may represent to their position, Eurogroup have resisted the temptation to fight the Coalition for the radical vote. To their credit, they have maintained their moderate and sensible approach to the issue of animal experimentation.
One of the main objectives of the Eurogroup for Animal Welfare is to get animal protection written into the Treaty of Rome, the basic agreement on which the European union is founded. Under agricultural policy, the Treaty classes animals as agricultural products'. Eurogroup want to see them re-classified as 'sentient beings'. Some observers are concerned that this could lead to the revision of every European Union Directive concerning animals, although it is mostly aimed at affecting the agricultural use of animals in Europe, rather than their role in science.
David Wilkins, Director of Eurogroup, commented, "Whilst we remain totally opposed to painful experiments on animals, we recognise that this ultimate goal will only be achieved by legislation on a step by step basis."
The Members of Eurogroup for Animal Welfare
Austria Zentralverband der Tierschutzvereine Osterreichs
Belgium Association Nationale des Societes de Protection Animale
Denmark Foreningen til Dyrenes Beskyttelse i Danmark
Finland Animalia - Federation for the Protection of Animals
France Conseil National de Protection Animale
Germany Deutscher Tierschutzbund eV
Greece Hellenic Animal Welfare Society
Ireland Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Italy Observer
Luxembourg Ligue Nationale pour la protection des Animaux
Netherlands Nederlandse Vereniging tot Bescherming van Dieren
Portugal Liga Portuguesa dos Direitos do Animal
Spain Association Nacional para la Defensa de los Animales
Sweden Svenska EU-gruppen for Djurskydd
United Kingdom Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and World Society for the Protection of Animals