FairPlay questions EU about horse export delays

The FairPlay movement has posed a number of questions to the European Union ambassador in South Africa regarding media reports that the EU is delaying South African horse exports in order to force South Africa to accept more EU chicken.

In a letter to the EU ambassador, Dr. Riina Konka, FairPlay founder Francois Baird asks whether these reports are true and whether the EU has put these demands to the South African government or the equine exporting industry.

18 December 2020The FairPlay movement has posed a number of questions to the European Union ambassador in South Africa regarding media reports that the EU is delaying South African horse exports in order to force South Africa to accept more EU chicken.

“If these reports are true, it would be a flagrant abuse of EU trading power and would mean that the EU is bullying smaller nations in order to achieve its own ends. It would also mean the EU is using issues in one industry to try to force a country with which it has a trade agreement to make concessions regarding another industry. This would be both immoral and completely irrational,” Baird said. He pointed out that if the allegations leveled against the EU in the media are true, it would be promoting poverty by destroying jobs and livelihoods in the poultry and equine industries, as a result of EU trade practices conflicting with EU development policies.

“If these reports are true, it would be a flagrant abuse of EU trading power and would mean that the EU is bullying smaller nations in order to achieve its own ends. It would also mean the EU is using issues in one industry to try to force a country with which it has a trade agreement to make concessions regarding another industry. This would be both immoral and completely irrational,” Baird said. He pointed out that if the allegations leveled against the EU in the media are true, it would be promoting poverty by destroying jobs and livelihoods in the poultry and equine industries, as a result of EU trade practices conflicting with EU development policies.

FairPlay also asks the EU ambassador whether the EU has any issues regarding imports of EU chicken in South Africa and if so what these issues are.

The full letter to Dr. Konka is available on the FairPlay website: http://fairplaymovement.org/ 

The media reports referred to are: 

https://citizen.co.za/horses/horses-news/2403381/local-racehorses-grounded-due-to-sa-eu-trade-spat/

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-12-08-the-rate-of-south-african-equine-exports-is-plummeting-and-jobs-in-the-industry-are-haemorrhaging/

https://www.thoroughbrednews.com.au/News/Story/poultry-row-blocks-south-african-equine-exports-to-eu-118276?section=International