The Veterinary Crisis Committee, an association that brings together professionals in the sector in Spain, coordinated the organization of about 40 demonstrations across the country this weekend against Royal Decree 666/2023, known as the Veterinary Medicine Law, which regulates the distribution, prescription, dispensing, and use of veterinary medicines.
In the Canary Islands, the protests will continue this Sunday in La Palma, Lanzarote, and Tenerife, starting at 12:00. In Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the protest will start from Plaza Weyler and will walk along Calle Castillo until reaching Plaza de Candelaria. In Santa Cruz de La Palma, it will start from La Alameda, while in Lanzarote it will be held in front of the Spinola Palace in Teguise.
Across the country, most of the demonstrations will take place on Sunday morning. Veterinarians, who encourage pet owners to join the protest, are calling for a «fairer and more consistent regulatory framework that allows them to carry out their work based on scientific evidence and professional judgment.»
In particular, they criticize that the Royal Decree «prevents» them from directly providing the necessary treatments to the animals under their care in their clinics. They also denounce that the regulation imposes a «disproportionate» bureaucratic system that demands «absurd technical details — such as the number of drops administered or the percentage of cream used — under the threat of fines that can reach 1.2 million euros.»
The Royal Canine Society of Spain (RSCE) has announced its participation in the protest in Madrid and has called on all animal owners, associations, and the general public to join and support the work of veterinarians.
PSOE AGREED WITH ERC TO DIALOGUE WITH VETERINARIANS
The veterinary sector has been protesting against the Veterinary Medicine Law since its provisions began affecting clinical professionals, those who treat companion animals, earlier this year. Among other calls, they have protested in front of the Congress of Deputies.
There, some members of the Veterinary Crisis Committee spoke with some political representatives from PSOE, PP, Vox, Junts, ERC, Bildu, and Sumar who came out to meet them. However, professionals in the sector have criticized on several occasions that the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food, Luis Planas, has not accepted to meet with them, and in fact, at the protest in front of the Congress of Deputies, they demanded his resignation.
In the last Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food of the Congress, PSOE and ERC agreed on a transactional amendment to an ERC Non-Legislative Proposal (PNL) in which the Lower House urged the Government, among other things, to promote a dialogue between the Executive and the veterinary sector for the availability of antibiotics in pharmacies and other authorized dispensing centers.
In addition, ERC subsequently presented the same transactional amendment as an amendment to the Bill creating a Health Agenda and amending the General Public Health Law. In the texts of the initiatives, to which Europa Press has had access, ERC’s deputy Etna Estrems Fayos gives the Government a six-month deadline from the approval of the Law to do what was already requested in the last Committee on Agriculture.
Union of the Navarrese People (UPN) and Junts also presented amendments to this Bill addressing complaints from veterinarians. In fact, Junts called for the repeal of the Veterinary Medicine Law in line with what Vox and PP have requested on several occasions.
