mr president i welcome the commissioner and i thank the rapporteur for her work
just to continue with mr agnew's point of if it ain t broke don t fix it i think that is exactly what we are doing here we are extending derogations where member states have asked that that happen but we are allowing the movement of pets
i am sure those who are in the visitors gallery thought that it was quite a simple matter to move pets between member states but because we are dealing with issues around animal health and indeed human health it is not quite so simple
we do need stringent rules and controls on that while recognising that many british people but also people from other member states like to bring their animals with them
my worry about this report was that it might get bogged down in the technicalities of life after the lisbon treaty which quite frankly lots of people outside this chamber should not worry about or indeed know about it was of importance to us as a parliament
i think the rapporteur has settled the case very well on our behalf and has been congratulated for so doing
the danger was had it slipped through the net we would not have had in place measures to address the concerns of sweden ireland the uk and others
but we are in the right place now
i think the future is much more important
commissioner you mentioned that you have plans to look at new legislation in this regard
i think that is what we should be talking about at this stage
what we all want in this house is high animal and human health standards and this new legislation that you promise should ensure that
so well done to the rapporteur and to those involved in this report in bringing it to the stage it is at today
it has satisfied all concerns not for all perhaps to my extreme left here but for most of us
i hope you will consult wisely and widely in relation to what we need on new legislation on the transport of pets
we have it with farm animals we need simplified but effective rules for pets
