Europese landbouwministers geven topprioriteit aan vogelgriep (en)

Priorities: Contain the epidemic, protect domestic poultry and maintain solidarity with producers

Brussels - At the beginning of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in Brussels on Monday, Minister for Agriculture and Council President Josef Pröll gave priority, due to current events, to the report by EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner Markos Kyprianou on the current situation in respect of the fight against bird flu in Member States and deliberations of the 25 Ministers on this subject. Member States bear the main responsibility for implementing safety measures specified across the EU by the European Commission. "Containing the epidemic, protecting domestic poultry and maintaining solidarity with producers who have suffered damage through no fault of their own are the order of the day", Pröll stated. Given the extensive safety precautions and scientific expertise, EU citizens can rest assured that human health is not at risk and consuming poultry meat and eggs is absolutely harmless.

Pröll designated five central issues in the consultations:

Firstly, bird flu in the EU affects only wild birds at present, and not any domestic or farm poultry. Protection of domestic poultry is therefore an absolute priority. This project has succeeded so far by virtue of "very good cooperation" between the EU Commission and Member States. This is "not the time for panic", Pröll stressed.

Secondly, progress had been made on the issue of import bans on certain products from third countries. "We have to prevent this route of entry as far as possible by means of a self-declaration liability for people travelling into the EU, so they do not bring with them any possible infection carriers", Pröll continued. The Commission should take action to this effect.

Thirdly, EU Health Ministers will discuss further measures under a coordinated approach across the EU in Vienna on Friday this week at the informal Council meeting chaired by the minister responsible in Austria, Maria Rauch-Kallat.

Opinions divided over vaccinations

Fourthly, opinions in the Council are "divided" on wide-scale vaccinations for domestic poultry as proposed by France and the Netherlands, according to Pröll. Immunization merely prevented poultry from falling victim to the disease, but did not prevent the infection. The EU Commission pointed out that such preventive vaccinations would have to be registered and approved. Inoculations made sense only under certain conditions, and only if it were possible to distinguish immunized and infected animals following vaccination. In addition, as Kyprianou pointed out, trade problems with third countries could emerge in respect of vaccinated poultry, and the relation between costs and benefits would have to be considered.

Difficult legal position in respect of compensation - Commission to make proposals

Fifthly, the EU will attempt to alleviate the economic damage caused by falls in consumption of poultry meat by further increasing export refunds for poultry - Italy is talking of a market collapse of up to 70%, Greece of between 40 and 50% and France of 15%. Pröll indicated his understanding for these countries' demands, but the issue of compensation payments for losses from preventive emergency slaughtering is still open. The EU Commission is to examine appropriate options and make proposals.

The Commission said that EU poultry market regulations allowed only for export refunds to alleviate market burdens. The refunds have only recently been raised from EUR 26 to EUR 30 per 100kg of poultry meat from whole chickens. The EU is not making provision for financial compensation to producers for market slumps or precautionary emergency slaughters, but only for the event of poultry stocks having to be culled after contamination. Italian Minister for Agriculture Giovanni Alemanno intends to offer national compensation to poultry farmers in the worst case scenario, even without EU approval.

The Council will discuss such further arrangements and measures at its next session in March.

EU has already stepped up measures

Suspected and proven infections of wild birds with the H5N1 virus have so far been established within the EU in Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Slovenia, Hungary, Cyprus and Greece. Standard safety precautions are applicable in EU countries in order to prevent the disease from spreading to domestic flocks. Compulsory protection and monitoring zones are to be set up around the sites where infected wild birds have been found. Moreover, a number of Member States, such as Austria (since last Sunday) and Germany, have imposed a general obligation to keep poultry indoors.

EU veterinarians also adopted additional safety measures last week. These prohibit the bringing of untreated feathers - a possible carrier of H5N1 - into the EU. In addition, the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health has approved national monitoring plans for bird flu and promised 50% co-financing from the EU budget. EU Member States are to test 60,000 wild birds and 300,000 domestic fowls for H5N1 by the end of the year. The EU will assume 50% of the costs and has earmarked EUR 1.964 million for this purpose. The Committee also discussed protective measures in the event of farm animals being infected, and not just wild birds.