Although the Brussels Government had promised an Animal Welfare Code for years, it is now blocked in the Council of Ministers. The main reason is the PS's fear, for electoral and communitarian reasons, that an amendment on ritual slaughter might be introduced.
Brussels MP Aurélie Czekalski appeared on Wednesday 3 April on the programme “+d’Actu” on BX1, and MP Gaëtan Van Goidsenhoven was also on the channel that day on “Bonjour Bruxelles”, both speaking about the Brussels Government's animal welfare code, which is slow to reach Parliament… Why? Because the majority parties keep blocking each other, to the point where the text may have to be postponed to the next legislature. One of the main sticking points concerns the amendment that MPs might introduce to ban slaughter without stunning. Animal welfare, it seems, can wait until the political games are over.
An animal welfare code, one of the most ambitious in the world, was however adopted in Wallonia during the previous legislature, on the initiative of Minister-President Willy Borsus. Moreover, individuals now need a permit to keep pets, which can be withdrawn in cases of abuse. In addition, the MR wanted to step up controls on people cruel to animals. In short, the Brussels Region is already years behind on all these issues.
Aurélie Czekalski recalled that the MR group in the Brussels Parliament, driven by Gaëtan Van Goidsenhoven, had tabled numerous texts on animal welfare, all rejected by the majority, which claimed it wanted to wait for the animal welfare code. These texts concerned better regulation of new pets, a database of abusive owners, the creation of an animal welfare police force, and regulation for new companion animals (exotic pets). As for the ban on fairground animals, it was passed and is in force thanks to MR votes. The Brussels majority preferred instead to push through bans on dolphinariums, force-feeding geese and hunting… even though none of these exist in Brussels.
The MR also supported the proposal to ban slaughter without stunning, to reduce animal suffering and catch up with the other regions of the country. Ritual slaughter without stunning is already banned in Wallonia, and a proportionate alternative was offered to the religious communities concerned. The MP recalled the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights of 13 February 2024. The Court held that the ban on slaughter without stunning does not violate Article 9, which guarantees the right to freedom of religion, nor Article 14 on the right not to suffer discrimination under the European Convention on Human Rights.
PS and Ecolo are burying the animal welfare code out of pure communitarian politics. Other bodies have not found this measure discriminatory. Ecolo has abandoned the animal cause and the PS has given up on the values defended in its own programme.
This text, as Gaëtan Van Goidsenhoven explained to Fabrice Grosfilley, the MR would of course have voted for, as it went in the right direction. The MP also expressed his great disappointment that the Brussels Region again finds itself lagging behind, being the last in Belgium without an Animal Welfare Code.
Faced with this failure by the majority, the opposition decided to take matters into its own hands and table a text identical to the animal welfare code as drafted by the Government.
Our MPs Aurélie Czekalski and Gaëtan Van Goidsenhoven, also president of the Veeweyde association, both active on animal welfare issues, naturally decided to join the opposition's tabling of the text so that it is still debated in Parliament and the animal cause is finally given its due in Brussels.
Watch the full programme on BX1
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UGx6gda7eW4