EU accused over Austria circus animal ban

The European Commission was accused today of abdicating its responsibility - for letting an EU government ban wild animals from circuses.

The Austrian ban has upset the European Circus Association, which demanded action from the Commission on the grounds that the ban breached EU rules on the “free movement of services”.

But eurocrats – usually in trouble for interfering in national affairs - decided the issue was best left to the member state concerned.

Now the European Ombudsman, P Nikiforos Diamandouros, has ruled that Brussels should have interfered, and has ordered a new EU evaluation to determine whether the Austrian ban is “a proportionate restriction of the right of free movement”.

A statement from the Ombudsman’s Strasbourg office declared: “Although national authorities are entitled to a wide margin of discretion, the Commission cannot abdicate its supervisory role as regards the free movement of services.”

He said the Commission must now either take legal action against Austria, or give the Circus Association a valid reason for not doing so.

The Association submitted a complaint about the Austrian ban to the Commission four years ago, arguing that the ban not only breached EU rules on the free movement of services but that it was discriminatory because wild animals are still allowed on film sets in Austria.