Legal steps

Slatted floors: “Rauch’s proposal will not hold”

(Bild: krone.tv)

Fully slatted floors must be removed from pigsties. By 2030, say the Greens. That won't work, counters the Farmers' Union, which is now taking legal action. Lower Austria Farmers' Association Director Paul Nemecek in the krone.tv talk: "Politically, there will be no solution here."

"If you ban fully slatted floors in Austria, that doesn't mean you ban fully slatted pigs," says Nemecek. If we believe that we can once again form an island of the blessed in Austria, we would only be promoting the import of pork on fully slatted floors. "That is very clear and should be said to consumers."

Lower Austria Farmers' Association Director Paul Nemecek in the krone.tv talk(Bild: krone.tv)

The Farmers' Union has had a proposal on the table for months - just as the proposal from the responsible animal welfare minister Johannes Rauch has been on the table for months. The latter states that the ban on fully slatted floors for pigs should be brought forward to 2030. At the beginning of January, the Constitutional Court overturned the original transitional period for implementing the ban until 2040 as being too long and objectively unjustified.

Criticism of Rauch's "ideological trench warfare"
However, as Nemecek explains, there are now massive concerns from constitutional lawyers who say that Minister Rauch's draft is also unconstitutional. "We are looking for a solution for our pig farmers that is legally sound and are in contact with the country's top lawyers and will also be presenting our expertise in the coming weeks." He said it was a shame that Rauch, although he knew that his proposal would not hold up under constitutional law, was "fighting ideological trench warfare on the backs of our pig farmers and therefore also on the backs of the security of supply of pork."

"Inconceivable derailment" in parliament
Nemecek describes the speech by Neos mandatary Gerald Loacker in parliament as an "inconceivable derailment". He spoke of the "stupid beef fillet" that was to blame for the ÖVP not agreeing to the Mercosur free trade agreement. "It has to be said that any of us can have a bad day. But what did the member of parliament Loacker do? He added the next day that he would certainly not apologize." The behavior of NEOS leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger also went too far when she "mocked our farmers with her laughter".

Farmers had recently been asked about this issue an incredible number of times. Nemecekt commented: "Our products are of high quality, our beef is not stupid and our cheese is not inferior."