It has been a while since we talked about the Canada-EU seals dispute at the WTO (see here, here and here). It's not clear to me where this is all going, but here is the latest:
The European Commission's ambassador to Canada says efforts are being made to inject scientific fact into the emotionally-charged seal hunt debate, but he says the issue is shrouded in sentimentality.
Dorian Prince said Tuesday the European Commission will soon make a final recommendation about a possible Europe-wide ban on seal products - a decision that could strike a devastating blow to Canada's annual East Coast seal hunt.
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Prince said it is very difficult to eliminate emotion from the seal hunt debate in Europe.
He said the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, is awaiting a second report on seal hunts before making its recommendation to the European Parliament.
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Belgium and the Netherlands have already approved legislation prohibiting the sale of seal products. Germany, Italy and Austria are drafting similar legislation, putting pressure on the European Commission to recommend a union-wide ban.
