Thursday

30th Nov 2023

Romania pushes live-animal exports despite EU criticism

  • Romania is losing close to €50m annually by sticking to live animal exports. Exporting processed meat instead would also bring over 5,000 new jobs into the economy, the study shows (Photo: Eurogroup for Animals)
Listen to article

Almost two years since 14,000 sheep drowned off Romania's Black Sea coast, and the south-eastern EU member state has not improved the welfare of exported animals, let alone curbed the process altogether, according to international animal rights' welfare organisations.

Romania has actually consolidated its position, becoming EU's the largest exporter of live animals to third-party countries. The NGO Animals International pointed out that shipping live animals brings not only unnecessary suffering but is also detrimental to the economy.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The animal welfare organisation is now reaching out to Romanian MPs, calling for a law to move past live animal exports and towards exporting processed and refrigerated meat.

In a study by Animals International, Romania is losing close to €50m annually by sticking to live animal exports. Exporting processed meat instead would also bring over 5,000 new jobs into the economy, the study shows.

"Romania has the opportunity to show kindness and do a great business deal all at the same time by completely replacing live exports with trade of added value meat products. It already has all the necessary infrastructure. All its business partners already accept processed and refrigerated meat. It is now only a matter of political will", Gabriel Păun, Animals International EU director, told EUobserver.

Speaking to EUobserver, Romanian MP Iulius Marian Firczak said he favoured the switch: "I think Romania should move towards a more humane method of exporting animal products, one that limits animal suffering and gets more revenue into the local economy."

Romania was caught off guard once again during a crisis in the Suez canal earlier this year when the country was the source of 130,000 of the 200,000 live animals stranded without food and water during the shipping bottleneck.

Animal rights NGOs at the time claimed that transporters would never admit that animals on board their ships were dying by the thousands and that ships never had the EU required 25 percent surplus of food and water.

Last year Romania was red-flagged by Brussels from failing to meet minimum transport conditions, after European Commission audits showed that cargo ships for live exports are hazardous to animal welfare.

A year before, the former EU Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis urged Romania - to no avail - to stop the export of 70,000 live sheep to the Persian Gulf, as temperatures inside the cargo vessel exceed 60 degrees Celsius.

Increased criticism from Brussels comes amidst the backdrop of stricter controls on live exports, as EU and non-EU member states are looking to phase out this practice.

However, condemnation from abroad and horrifying practices exposed by NGOs - such as, animals dying from the high temperatures, unloaded violently off ships, squeezed in car trunks and slaughtered by unskilled butchers - are not stopping Romania's booming live animal export.

"Hundreds of thousands of sheep and cattle shipped in excruciating conditions are literally cooked alive temperatures inside exceeding 60 degrees Celsius. It takes anywhere from one to three weeks for the livestock to reach destination. The appalling transport, handling and slaughter conditions defy the EU and international laws", said Paun.

The Romanian agriculture ministry vouched, however, to not only keep live animal exports to countries in the Middle East and North Africa, but increase the trade.

It remains to be seen whether appealing to the country's sheep-farming heritage, as in one recent animal welfare campaign, will sway Romania's decision makers to reduce or gradually stop live-animal exports.

Author bio

Cristian Gherasim is a freelance journalist contributing to EUobserver, Euronews, EU Reporter, Katoikos, Von Mises Institute, and bne IntelliNews, with a particular focus on European and regional affairs.

Romania blasted over animal export conditions

Romania, EU's largest exporter of live farm animals to third-countries, gets singled out in the latest European Commission report for bad practices - following the drowning of more than 14,000 sheep last November.

Opinion

Who's afraid of the big bad wolf? The EU is.

The cliché of the big bad wolf continues into the present day. In places like Finland deeply-entrenched cultural anxieties fuel unfounded fears that they will attack innocent children on their way to school.

Opinion

Public support grows for EU 'commissioner for animals'

In recent months, 140,000 citizens and 152 MEPs have joined the #EUforAnimals campaign, demanding more prominence be given to animal welfare by making it explicit in the name of the relevant directorate-general and job title of the appropriate EU commissioner.

Opinion

'Pay or okay?' — Facebook & Instagram vs the EU

Since last week, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta corporation is forcing its European users to either accept their intrusive privacy practices — or pay €156 per year to access Facebook and Instagram without tracking advertising.

Latest News

  1. 'Pay or okay?' — Facebook & Instagram vs the EU
  2. EU offers Turkey upgrade, as Sweden nears Nato entry
  3. Russia loses seat on board of chemical weapons watchdog
  4. Finland's closure of Russia border likely violates asylum law
  5. The EU's 'no added sugars' fruit-juice label sleight-of-hand
  6. EU belittles Russia's Lavrov on way to Skopje talks
  7. Member states stall on EU ban on forced-labour products
  8. EU calls for increased fuel supplies into Gaza

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us