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		Transport of live animals Lincolnshire Echo - August 1 2003 As an MEP, I have been shocked to hear very distressing stories of the suffering of live animals in transit. I was especially struck by the briefings I have received from the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH), and from the beautiful Joanna Lumley (who takes a keen interest in the issue), about the trade in horses from central and Eastern Europe into the EU, and especially to abattoirs in Southern Italy, where they are slaughtered for the meat trade. My wife and I keep horses at home, so I was particularly touched by dreadful images of horses kept sealed in lorries for days at a time, without adequate food and water, sometimes injuring each other as they fight for what little food they are offered. In a closed box, summer day-time temperatures can be intolerable, whilst on winter nights, the horses freeze. Many arrive dead. At a meeting I set up between ILPH and Commissioner Byrne's cabinet, I established that the Commission was working on the issue, but seemed to lack a sense of urgency. So along with London colleagues Theresa Villiers and Charles Tannock, I initiated a "Written Declaration" in the European parliament. It calls for a maximum journey-time of eight hours, between proper rest and recuperation breaks. The Written Declaration is our nearest Brussels equivalent of the Westminster Early Day Motion, one of the few ways that an MEP can raise a new issue. To become a resolution of the parliament, the declaration requires a majority of members -- 314 -- to sign it. Dozens of such Declarations are started (each an excuse for a press release), but only a handful have ever succeeded. But after relentless lobbying and badgering, we finally achieved the magic number in June in Strasbourg -- with only days to spare, as such declarations run out after three months. This resolution of the parliament has now been forwarded to the Commission, and increases pressure on Commissioner Byrne to bring forward new measures. That, of course, is only a part of the solution. The other huge issue is ensuring that existing and new EU legislation on animal welfare is actually implemented. there is ample evidence that Southern Italian abattoirs are flouting EU rules. Here again, the Commission claims to be on the case. But we MEPs will keep working for a greater sense of focus and urgency. Many people ask why the trade in live calves for veal continues at all. The short answer is that customers, for example in France, want live animals, and if we only offer veal on the hook, they will look elsewhere, to the detriment of British farmers. But there is a more fundamental point. EU labelling rules allow calves born in Britain, but fattened and slaughtered in France, to be sold as French -- which gives a huge incentive for the trade in live calves. Conservative MEPs will continue to work towards honest labelling, which would remove this perverse incentive which militates against animal welfare.