EU: Resistance grows to ritual slaughter ban

Resistance is growing to the proposed ban on ritual slaughter which would stop the production of kosher and halal meat in the Netherlands, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday.

The paper says VVD supporters in Noord-Holland province now say the government should focus on the industrial slaughter sector because animals suffer much more during the killing process than in ritual slaughter.

There are divisions within the VVD and Labour in Amsterdam and at the end of May D66 members voted against the ban at their party congress, the paper points out.

GroenLinks members will be asked to vote against a ban at their party conference later this month.

Industrial killing

Cees Loggen, chairman of the VVD on Noord-Holland provincial council, said some 10% of animals in industrial slaughterhouses are not properly stunned before being killed.

‘That is equivalent to 20 million animals in the Netherlands alone, making it a much more serious problem than in slaughter without stunning,’ he told the Volkskrant. ‘So why just tackle ritual slaughter?’

At the moment, there is majority support for the ban in parliament, which is to to debate the issue again on June 16.