MEPs are soon scheduled to debate a new ‘Common Circus Policy’. This is following the publication of a report: “new challenges for the circus as part of European culture”. Apparently MEPs agree that circuses should be referred to as part of Europe’s cultural heritage, but tend to disagree on whether they should include presentation of animals or not:
At the moment, Austria does not allow circuses to use any wild animals (even in the parliament?), while the Scandinavian countries ban some kinds of animals, such as lions and tigers (hence the more touchy-feely approach to politics there I imagine).