Will Brussels follow in the footsteps of Flanders and Wallonia by in turn banning slaughter without stunning? In any case, the Brussels Minister for Animal Welfare, Bernard Clerfayt, is campaigning for this to be a reality.
Invited by Fabrice Grosfilley on BX1 +, Minister Bernard Clerfayt explains that it is for the government to manage a conflict between two values. The value of animal welfare that we share today, and the value of religious freedom, the freedom of religious rites.” But for him, the choice is quickly made: “we must reduce the suffering of animals even during slaughter.
He says the issue should not even be on the table anymore since it has been settled in law. “Both the European Court of Justice and the Constitutional Court of Belgium have ruled that imposing prior stunning is a limited attack on religious freedom, but not so serious as to be contrary to that freedom. religious ”.
He wants the government to look at the issue once and for good. The file will arrive on the government’s table on October 14, in order to put in the Brussels Region rules which require the preliminary stunning of animals before any slaughter. Now we can discuss the modalities and see between ourselves when we plan to implement them. But it seems logical to me that in the name of animal welfare, we apply rules similar to those in Flanders and Wallonia and which have been approved “, he stressed.
