2024-01-14 22:21:51
The Constitutional Court (VfGH) has lifted the transition period until 2040 for the ban on fully slatted floors in pig farming. It is now the government’s turn to fix the law. Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig (ÖVP) explained yesterday in the ZIB2 interview that they generally wanted to stick to a transition period, but he did not want to comment on the intended length of this period.
It has been seen that there is a lot of uncertainty in the companies and therefore requires planning and legal certainty for the farmers. “We read it like this: The constitutional judge says we should approach animal protection. But of course he also says that appropriate times should be granted for the operators, for the pig farmers, for the farming families.”
If the transition periods are shortened too much, then it will mean that there will no longer be any domestic production – “that’s really regarding the Austrian schnitzel”. Transition periods were also granted for the ban on keeping laying hens in cages. “You just have to stay realistic,” says Totschnig. “We are leading the way than Austria in the area of animal welfare in pig farming,” so we also have to prove ourselves on the EU internal market. If you increase the competitive pressure too much, “then foreign meat comes from a farm that you would rather not see.”
This article accompanies the broadcast ZIB2, ORF2, January 14, 2024.
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