the Animalist Party wants to create a surprise for the European elections

Some “small” parties hope to achieve a good score in the European elections which will take place on June 9. In particular the Animalist Party, which wants to obtain its first MEP.

It received 2.2% of the vote in the 2019 European elections, but the themes of the Animalist Party are increasingly popular. The fate of animals concerns voters and traditional parties are also trying to take up the issue of animal welfare. A law was also passed in 2021 against animal abuse, notably prohibiting the sale of dogs and cats in pet stores. But the Animalist Party, led by Hélène Thouy, believes that we need to take more action during the European elections in June.

Animal welfare has become a real issue for some voters. This is the case for Elodie on the square in front of Montparnasse station, in Paris, who is questioned by an activist. “It’s a party that defends animals. You love animals ??”, the activist asks him. Elodie turns around to take the leaflet from the animalist party. “The environment, nature, fauna, flora, these are things that we must preserve and now is the time to pay attention”explains the voter.

At the polls, however, ballots in favor of this cause are still rare. The challenges of this mandate are however important, according to several animal defense associations. For European candidate Simon Nordmann, purple vest on his back and leaflets in hand, only the animalist party can respond to this challenge. “All the parties say that they are for animal welfare because obviously they do not want to lose votes because of that. Then, there is the exercise of power and there, every time , the animals go by the wayside.”

Industrial breeding in the viewfinder

According to the European candidate, the traditional parties are slipping away. He cites, for example, the absence of firm condemnation of bullfighting by the National Rally or the question of ritual slaughter. “We say we must stop slaughter without stunningexplains Simon Nordmann. In fact, what the other parties are doing is using the animal condition to advance their own agenda.”

The main challenge for the animalist party remains to ban intensive breeding in Europe, in favor of more plant-based agriculture. “We don’t say that everyone has to be vegetarianindicates the candidate for the European elections. On the other hand, what we are saying is that there is a type of breeding which is extremely productive of suffering, CO2, diseases and that we can choose to stop this breeding, that is. is factory farming. We don’t want to do that against the breeders. We stop all subsidies and redistribute them towards plant-based agriculture and helping breeders transition.”

Elect an animalist MEP

A little further on in front of the station, Laurence Volbart, an activist from the Ile-de-France region, explains that the agricultural crisis symbolizes the government’s lack of ambition on environmental issues. “We give everything to breeders, we allow them to use pesticides that we had banned, we give permits to expand existing farms. It’s a disaster.” she laments.

According to activists, there is only one way to move the lines: elect an animalist MEP. Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands have already succeeded in this bet but, in these countries, the voting rules are more flexible. In France, you need 5% of the votes to obtain a seat in the European Parliament.