On April 4, as many as 11 parties for animals from across Europe gathered in Brussels aiming to present a collective manifesto and announce their participation in the European Parliament elections.
International movement Animal Politics EU consists of the Party for the Animals in the Netherlands and its ten European sister parties from Belgium, Germany, Finland, Sweden, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Cyprus, and the United Kingdom.
On Thursday, April 4 they presented their collective manifesto called “Animal Politics EU: May we have your votes, please?” in a press conference at the European Parliament.
Parties for animals share a fundamental principle to protect the interests of the weakest against the might of the strongest. Serving the interests of humans and animals alike.
The parties say that gaining greater political representation for animals in the European Parliament would be a major step in the battle for animal rights and a sustainable future.
“All other parties, including the Greens, focus on the wellbeing of humans mainly. Our movement has a fundamental principle to protect the interests of the weakest against the right of the strongest. Serving the interests of both humans and animals. In practice, our Party for the Animals focusses much more on animal welfare issues than Green parties, but we also have a more holistic vision. We want to end the culture of compromises. We do not have time for small steps, we need to make huge steps if we want to really change the system. When it comes to fighting climate change and the preservation of our planet for future generations, we don’t maintain taboos like most ‘old fashioned’ green parties. We believe that a change in our current consumption patterns is necessary. Infinite growth, even green growth, is an illusion. Growth on a planet with finite resources is simply impossible,” said In an interview with European Interest, PvdD’s Anja Hazekamp, a member of the European Parliament’s GUE/NGL Group.
The Party for the Animals (Partij voor de Dieren; PvdD) in the Netherlands, which was founded in 2002, is the most successful among the pro-Animal parties in Europe. It has 5 seats in the 150-member House of Representatives, 2 seats in Senate, 20 seats in the State Provincial councils and one MEP, a member of the GUE/NGL Group. It is expected to win again one seat.
Now ahead of the European elections, polls indicate that another two pro-Animal parties, both of them sister parties of the PvdD, have a good chance to win seats in the European Parliament.
The Party Human Environment Animal Protection (Tierschutzpartei) in Germany is among the older in the pro-Animal movement since it was founded in 1993. Now according to recent polls it envisages winning 1-2 seats.
The Spanish PACMA (Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals) is another veteran in animal welfare movement. Founded in 2003, the party had a good performance in the general elections of April (326,045 votes with 1.25%) but failed to win any seat in the Parliament.
According to recent polls PACMA enjoys the support of a 3.20% and it is expected to win one seat in the European Parliament.
