EU calls for calm
2006-02-21 10:38
Brussels - The European Commission told the EU's member states Monday to use existing rules to help poultry producers hit by scares over bird flu, ruling out at this stage community support.
Agriculture ministers from the 25 member states joined the commission, the EU's executive arm, in calling for calm about the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus, so far found only in wild birds.
The virus has been found in six EU member states: Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Slovenia.
"There are different ways for member states to help poultry producers," said Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fisher Boel.
Brussels was ready to authorise national aid in the form of technical measures that already existed, such as low-interest loans to producers, provided member states respected community rules, she said.
Poultry sales have plunged
Italian Agriculture Minister Gianni Alemanno said his country had already negotiated with the commission a sum of state aid of €100m.
As the most deadly form of bird flu - the H5N1 virus strain - is found in western Europe on an almost daily basis, poultry sales have plunged by 70% in Italy, 40 to 50% in Greece and 15% in France.
France, Europe's top poultry producer, was on a high state of alert after becoming the sixth EU country to confirm a case of the highly pathogenic strain of H5N1 which can kill humans.
French Agriculture Minister Dominique Bussereau said he expected to get the green light from EU veterinary experts on Tuesday for the vaccination of geese and ducks in three areas where migrating birds were commonly found.
But his counterpart Josef Proell of Austria, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said there were "conflicting views" on vaccination.
Belgium has said all poultry will be kept indoors from March 1.
Germany has sent 300 soldiers to the island of Ruegen, near the Danish and Swedish coasts, to collect the bodies of dead birds infected with H5N1 to avoid scavengers spreading the disease.
Cars travelling to or from Ruegen, a popular holiday destination which is joined to the mainland by a bridge, had to drive through disinfectant baths.
More than 90 people have died from bird flu in China, Southeast Asia, Iraq and eastern Turkey since 2003 after contracting the H5N1 virus from infected poultry. No human infections have been reported in Europe.
While the virus cannot currently be passed between humans, experts fear that it could mutate if it were to mix with common flu genes and spark a worldwide pandemic that could kill millions of people.
The virus has infected chickens on the EU's doorstep in Romania and Ukraine, but outbreaks in Bulgaria as well as Union states Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Slovenia have only hit wild birds like swans and ducks.
"There is no reason for European citizens not to consume poultry meat and poultry products," EU health commissioner Markos Kyprianou added.
"We have to keep in mind that we are talking about an animal disease. It's not a human disease," he said. "It's a virus that is difficult to transmit to humans."