Romania risks sanctions for violating the European regulations and the rulings of the European Court of Justice regarding the conditions for the export of live animals – said on Tuesday Gabriel Paun, director of the non-governmental organization Animals International for the European Union.
The NGO has released on Tuesday an investigation into the exports of live animals from Romania to third countries in Africa and Asia.
“The investigation reveals the huge failure from Romanian officials to monitor the export of live animals. Animals bred in Romania are transported in a manner that violates the EU regulations and the European Court of Justice rulings, while animals are barbarously sacrificed, in violation of international standards,” Paun said.
Romania exports over 1.5 million calves and sheep annually, mainly in Libya, Jordan and Israel, our country being the largest exporter of live animals in the EU.
According to the NGO, images recorded in Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel, and Jordan show frightened, fully conscious, brutally manipulated Romanian animals with ropes and chains or even raised to the ceiling before being slaughtered by multiple cuts under unhygienic conditions in an environment endangering human health.
In addition, an official veterinarian is missing on board trucks or shipping vessels that should ensure compliance with the EU transport regulations and the rulings of the European Court of Justice.
Păun pointed out that the organization he represents has sent dozens of complaints to the Ministry of Agriculture and to the veterinary authority (ANSVSA), but did not receive any answer.
At the same time, he showed that Romania would gain much more if it did not export live animals, but frozen meat.
“I do not understand why we export lambs or calves when they could be fattened and sacrificed in Romania, then to export products with high added value instead of exporting jobs. It is about seeing our national interest, not the interest of certain import-export firms, because they are the only ones to gain,” the director of Animals International said.
According to him, the sheep are exported for RON 6 per kilogram and they are sold in the destination countries for about EUR 6 per kilo.