EU ministers to tackle bird flu as H5N1 reaches France
LISBETH KIRK
20.02.2006 @ 10:01 CET
The first case of bird flu was confirmed in France on Saturday (18 February) after tests on a dead duck found last week near Lyon showed it carried the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus.
France is the latest EU country to confirm the virus following the spread of the disease across Asia and into Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, and Germany.
European farmers are left with unsold poultry (Photo: EUobserver.com)
German authorities confirmed on Sunday evening (19 February) that the H5N1 bird flu virus has also been found on the German mainland.
Probes revealed the virus in two wild birds in Eastern and Northern Vorpommern, after the dangerous strain had already turned up last week on the island of Ruegen.
Meanwhile, Ruegen authorities declared a state of emergency on Sunday, with the German army being deployed to disinfect cars from the island to the mainland.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, visited the island on Sunday in a display of how serious the German government considers the disease to be.
Farmers fear that consumption of poultry may continue to decrease, following a 15 percent drop since January, the French press reported.
The French government has already promised financial aid of at least €5 million to the poultry sector to help it in the prevention of any contamination of their birds by wild fowl.
French agriculture minister Dominique Bussereau also announced the vaccination of 900,000 chickens and geese.
At a routine meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels today (20 February), the commissioner for health and consumer protection, Markos Kyprianou, will provide his monthly update on the latest developments concerning the outbreak of avian influenza in the world.
Greece and Italy are expected to repeat calls at the meeting for help to poultry farmers hit by falling demand due to consumer fears over bird flu.
Italian media quoted over the weekend agriculture minister Gianni Alemanno as saying he would ask Brussels to allow Italy to double subsidies earmarked for farmers left with unsold poultry.
"If we don't get the authorisation, we will ask the government to go ahead even if it means risking EU sanctions," the minister said according to AFP.
At the last council meeting agriculture commissioner Fischer-Boel indicated that the commission does not have any specific instruments other than export refunds to support the market, however.