PRESS COMMUNICATION 19.11.12

On November 14^th a discussion about the reduction of the number of stray animals in Greece took place in the European Parliament. It was an initiative of Mr. Giorgos Hatzimarkakis, a German Member of the European Parliament, of Greek descent, whom we would like to thank so much, and our Federation was there.

The aim of the discussion was the development of a clear and targeted approach for the control of the stray animal population in Greece.

Our Federation submitted a number of proposals to the representatives of the Greek State in Brussels as well as to the EU Commissioner,  for the effective reduction of the stray animals’ number, which is currently uncontrollably increasing.

In short, these proposals are as follows:
1. Introduction of a special school subject , as part of the citizen’s education on respect to life and environmental awareness.

2. Continuous information by the State through the media, in order to establish animal welfare awareness, which is not so developed in Greece like it is in Europe.

3. Drastic reduction or even ban, for a certain period of time, of the imports of thousands of new animals every year.

4. Drastic reduction of the thousands of animals added by dog associations and Greek breeders every year.

5. Ban of animal sale by pet shops, as no one knows what happens to them if they are not sold.

6. Realization of the need to sterilize companion animals..

7 . Unimpeded application by the Greek State of the beneficial institution of the European Voluntary Veterinarians, which has been legaly established through the law 4039/2012 .

This institution has been systematically undermined by the application authority – the Geotechnical Chamber of Greece – – which is supervised by the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Foods and which has been assigned the acceptance and evaluation of the supporting documents of the European voluntary veterinarians who wish to offer their help to animal welfare associations and municipalities temporarily and occasionally. The competent ministry has to give a political solution to the matter and not play the role of Pontius Pilatus.

8. Use of various European funds.

9. Issuance of a European Directive on companion animals. 10. EU intervention if a member state violates the Greek and the European legislation.

Our Federation also addressed the extremely poor conditions in which animals in our country live in general, distributing relevant material, and asked the Ministry of Agricultural Development and Foods to take urgent measures to solve the problem and effectively modify the law 4039/2012 – already we have submitted a number of modifications – as the law has some positive provisions but it is in no case a solution to the problem.

We would like to thank the Dean of the Veterinary School of Thessaloniki Mr. Thanasis Dinopoulos and the prominent laywer, specialist in matters of European Administrative Law Mr. Vasilis Papageorgiou that agreed to accompany the group of our Federation in Brussels and make their excellent scientific knowledge available to us.  

For the

Pan-Hellenic Animal Welfare and Environmental Federation and the Forum

Pan-Hellenic Coordinating Committee of 115 Animal Welfare Associations

the President the Vice-President  the Secretary

A. Bobolaki M. Christodoulou M. Houstoulaki

file:19-11-12