Today, 10 September 2020, Attorney General Hogan’s Opinion was delivered in the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice in Luxembourg. Michel Vandenbosch and Anthony Godfroid, GAIA’s lawyer, were present. In his Opinion, the Attorney General advises to prohibit stunned slaughter of animals on the conditions that (1) slaughter is carried out in accordance with religious rites and (2) slaughter takes place at an European slaughterhouse.
Michel Vandenbosch says, “We are disillusioned and even perplexed. We didn’t see this coming.” In any case, the Advocate-General’s Opinion is not binding and only advisory in nature. In the EU organic label case, where the question arose whether the EU organic label may be issued for meat that originates from animals that were not stunned at the time of slaughter, the Court of Justice did not follow the negative Opinion of the Attorney General.
Anthony Godfroid, GAIA’s lawyer, adds: “Though we’re understandably disappointed, this isn’t the end.” It regularly happens that the Court of Justice does not follow the Opinion of the Attorney General. The Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice, where several Member States that already imposed a ban on unstunned slaughter are represented, will have the final say when it renders its judgment in a few months. The members of the Court of Justice must be aware that following the Attorney General’s Opinion will have enormous repercussions on Member States (Denmark, parts of Finland, Slovenia, and Sweden) that already imposed an unstunned slaughter ban years ago.
