"End the Hourse Slaughter Age" European Citizens' Initiative launched
Signatures are being collected across the European Union to ban the slaughter of horses for meat. In Poland, the action is coordinated by the Viva! Magazine.
The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) is a mechanism by which EU citizens can call on the European Commission to propose new legislation on a specific issue. In order for the Commission to consider an initiative, signatures from at least one million EU citizens from a minimum of seven member states must be collected.
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Is the European Citizens' Initiative working?
So far, nine initiatives have received a response from the European Commission:
- "Right2Water (Water and sanitation are a human right! Water is a public good, not a commodity!)",
- "Stop Finning - Stop the trade",
- "Minority SafePack – one million signatures for diversity in Europe",
- "Save Cruelty Free Cosmetics - Commit to a Europe Without Animal Testing",
- "End the Cage Age",
- "One of US",
- "Stop Vivisection",
- "Save Bees over Farmers",
- "Ban glyphosate and protect people and the environment from toxic pesticides".
In the case of "Right2Water", its aim was to invite the European Commission to propose legislation ensuring that all EU citizens have access to clean drinking water. This brought into force the Drinking Water Directive 2020, which tightened regulations and standards in this area. Poland did not implement it in time, which may have contributed to the appearance of legionella bacteria in the Podkarpacie region in August 2023.
The "End the Hourse Slaughter Age" initiative
A list of all ECIs for which signatures are currently being collected can be found here. Since 21 September it includes "End The Horse Slaughter Age" initiative, which in Poland is coordinated under the name "STOP horse slaughter" by the Viva! Foundation.
According to the Foundation's stopubojowikoni.pl petition page, more than 19,000 horses were killed in Polish slaughterhouses for meat in 2021. Poland is also one of the main exporters of live horses for slaughter. Animals that have often previously worked hard, including those that drive tourists to the Morskie Oko Lake in the Tatra Mountains, are sent to slaughterhouses.
The "End the Hourse Slaughter Age" initiative calls on the European Commission to propose a law banning the slaughter of horses, including also their breeding and export for the production of fur, leather, meat or for the manufacture of medicines or other substances. In order to sign it, it is necessary to provide a PESEL number by which our identity is verified. The initiative has one year to collect the required number of signatures.
Source: publicystyka.ngo.pl
