Specialists of the European Court of Auditors will visit several EU Member States, including Romania, to examine the measures taken for animal welfare.

The EU auditors will visit five Member States, namely Romania, Poland, France, Italy and Germany. The audit report is to be published in late 2018.

“This is the first time that the EU auditors focus entirely on animal welfare. They will assess the action taken to achieve compliance with animal welfare legislation and to improve coordination between animal welfare activities and the Common Agricultural Policy,” reads a press release from the European Court of Auditors.

The audit will focus on farm animals – those most frequently referred to in EU legislation. There are an estimated 4.5 billion chickens, egg-laying hens and turkeys in the EU, and some 330 million cows, pigs, goats and sheep. The audit will cover the animals’ lifetime on the farm, as well as their transport and slaughter.

“EU citizens are becoming increasingly concerned about animal welfare and the EU has some of the world’s highest regulatory standards in this area. Our audit will be an opportunity to check whether those standards are being put into practice”, said Janusz Wojciechowski, the member of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the audit.

For the 2014-2020 period, EU rural development funds allocated to “animal welfare payments” amount to around EUR 1.5 billion. The measures are intended to encourage enhanced welfare levels that exceed both EU and national minimum requirements, according to the European Court of Auditors.

The audit was announced on October 4 – World Animal Day.

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Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com