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A letter from Brigitte Bardot
Ljubljana, 12/04/2006 | press release
President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Janez Drnovšek, received a letter from the film actor Brigitte Bardot, President of the foundation that carries her name in Paris, which concerns itself with animal rights, as follows:
"I read an interview you gave that was in France published in the review »Végétariens Magazine«, and would like to herewith express all my gratitude, as your words moved and touched me. They prove that a politician of high standing can behave… as a human being!
This may seem ordinary or even basic, alas, it is a virtue all but gone in the »great ones« that rule over us.
Knowing that the President of one of the member states of the European Union is a vegetarian opposed to experimenting on live animals, opposed to hunting, intense stock breeding and transports to slaughterhouses, is more than a consolation, it is a hope.
It is a hope that one day, humans will know how to respect nature that created them, and the animals that are the key element of nature's fragile balance.
You are right to scorn the shameful subsidies that the European Union grants to intensive stock rearing, as the goal of the common agricultural policies should be to encourage husbandry that is mindful of all sorts of habitats, to prioritize on extensive rearing, and to allow the animals freedom of movement.
This is neither utopian nor impossible: what would suffice is such a treatment of the animals that recognises what they really are: living and sensitive beings. That is why we do not have the right to treat animals like common merchandise.
Economics should not rule everything, and Europe should not follow the example of those countries which disrespect animals, which indeed respect nothing, all in the name of profit that tramples upon everything, first and foremost upon humans and human values we are supposed to embody.
Here in France, an election campaign is underway that is exceptional in its mediocrity. If we only had a candidate like Janez Drnovšek, or even a shadow of a person like him… then this world would rapidly become less intolerable!
Please receive my heartfelt greetings, and my expressions of all my respect."
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Office of the President of the Republic
Erjavčeva 17
SI-1000 Ljubljana
Slovenia
phone: +386 1 478 12 22
fax: +386 1 478 13 57
gp.uprs@up-rs.si
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