European Union Member States are no longer allowed to give agricultural subsidies specifically intended to breed fighting bulls. A binding proposal to that effect, submitted by the Dutch Party for the Animals and The Greens, was approved by the European Parliament last week.
Last week, the European Parliament voted against a proposal that would have banned “meat names” for plant-based meat substitutes. This means that “veggie burgers”, “plant-based sausages” and “soy steaks” are allowed to keep their current names. The Dutch Party for the Animals strongly resisted this proposed ban together with various civil society organisations. Such a ban on “meat-resembling names...
Last week, the European Parliament approved the new European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and billions in subsidies for the meat industry. A disaster for the climate, nature and the wellbeing of both people and animals. “These billions in subsidies for the agricultural industry are completely incompatible with the so-called green goals that the European Union says to strive towards” states Anj...
In my previous blog I already wrote: positive change is in the air. Political pressure is therefore more than ever needed to make this change happen. For a liveable planet and the welfare of people and animals. The Party for the Animals exerts that political pressure, together with our sister parties, citizens, and social organizations. Last month we saw good examples of this.No animals in captivi...
Next week, the European Parliament will vote on a ban on 'meat names' for vegetarian and plant-based products. Worldwide, this has been heavily lobbied for years, especially by representatives of the meat industry. The Dutch Party for the Animals opposes the criminalization of 'meat-like names' at a national and European level: such a ban stands in the way of innovation and the promotion of plant-...
Bullfighting glorifies abuse, violence, and cruelty against animals and should absolutely not be included on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. This was recently announced by MEP for the Dutch Party for the Animals Anja Hazekamp together with sixty other MEPs in a joint letter to Audrey Azoulay, director of UNESCO. Hazekamp is calling on citizens around the world to let UNESCO know t...
Historian Philip Blom recently stated: “We are on a tipping point, and things could go either way. We are stuck in an economic system that can’t go on for much longer. It either ends in a catastrophe with new pandemics, wars about access to resources, you name it, or we’ll go in the other direction. But the fact that it will tip one way or another, that’s a given.”Signs of approaching tipping poin...
A return to business as usual after the Covid-19 pandemic is unacceptable. That is the message conveyed by the Dutch Party for the Animals. Not only orally, during debates and contributions in parliament, but also literally: with the clothes that representatives of the party wear when the television cameras are aimed at them. Like last week during the most important political moment of the year in...
Worldwide nature is being exploited and destroyed by humans on a scale never previously recorded. Thus states The Living Planet Report, a recently published assessment of global biodiversity. Animal populations have plunged by more than two-thirds on average since 1970, as humanity is pushing the planet’s life support systems to the edge by overconsumption, population growth and intensive agricult...
A lot has happened this summer. First of all, on behalf of our Party for the Animals, I would like to express my condolences to all the victims of the terrible explosion in Beirut. Many human and animal lives have been destroyed in a country that was already struggling. In recent years, we have gotten to know many people from Lebanon who dedicate themselves with heart and soul to a society in whic...
In June, a new law came into effect in the Canadian province of Ontario that criminalizes the act of exposing cruelty and abuse in animal agriculture. This Bill 156 all but makes it impossible for animal rights advocates, whistleblowers and investigative journalists to bring animal abuse and malpractices to light. “It is a direct attack on basic civil rights such as the right to information, the r...
The international movement for animal rights and a liveable planet grew steadily this summer. Sister parties of the Dutch Party for the Animals in Denmark, France, and Italy achieved significant successes and a new Party for the Animals was established in Greece. “It is not without reason that the Dutch Party for the Animals is called the largest political export product of the Netherlands. It's g...