Animal health law: Agriculture Committee backs informal deal with the Council

An informal deal on the wording of draft EU law on transmissible animal diseases, negotiated by MEPs, the Latvian Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the European Commission, was backed by the Agriculture Committee on Wednesday. The law will merge and update many scattered items of old legislation, so as to help prevent and halt new outbreaks of animal diseases such as avian flu or African swine fever and keep pace with scientific progress.

"This agreement is a big step forward for the farming community. The most important achievement is that the new law will for the first time establish a clear link between animal welfare, animal health and public health. It is also a big step in fighting antimicrobial resistance in animals, humans and in the environment. Every animal owner will now have to respect good animal husbandry principles and use antibiotics responsibly. Finally, this law is a perfect example of simple, easy-to-read legislation that will make sense to the 25 million people whose daily lives will be affected by it", said Parliament’s rapporteur and chief negotiator on the new rules Marit Paulsen i (ALDE, SE).

The informal deal between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission was approved by 41 votes to one, with two abstentions. Further details of the new rules are available here.

Next steps

The results of the committee vote backing the agreement will be set out in a letter from committee chair Czesław Adam Siekierski i (EPP, PL) to the Latvian Presidency.

The agreed text will then need to be formally approved by the Council. Once the Council delivers its first reading position on the result of negotiations, the agreed draft law will need to be approved by the Agriculture Committee again before it can be put to a second-reading vote by Parliament as a whole, probably late in the autumn.

Wednesday, 17 June 2015

In the chair: Czesław Adam SIEKIERSKI (EPP, PL)

Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

Procedure: Co-decision (ordinary legislative procedure), early second reading agreement

Type of document: Regulation

REF. : 20150617IPR67303