On Monday 24 September, the European Commission said the Belgian government had taken a good decision to slaughter pigs from farms situated in a perimeter of 63,000 hectares infected by African swine fever (see EUROPE 12101).
Fighting this disease is a ‘priority’ for the Commission because it is a threat to the EU economy and its pig farms, explained a spokeswoman for the institution.
Although no pork farms have been hit by the disease (the cases found are in wild boar in the Belgian Ardennes), the Belgian authorities have taken the right decision to slaughter healthy animals in the infected area to prevent the disease reaching pig farms, said the Commission spokeswoman.
The Belgian federal agriculture minister, Denis Ducarme, ordered the slaughter or euthanasia of pigs in farms in the 63,000 hectares. The Walloon minister, René Collin, said the measure concerns more than 4,000 pigs in 58 farms in the infected zone in the south of the province of Luxembourg. Belgium will compensate the farmers in question.
Zone updates. The EU's standing committee on plants, animals, food and feed endorsed three decisions on Friday 21 September updating the African swine fever protection measures in Belgium, Bulgaria and other member states (Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and the Czech Republic). The Commission says that a meeting of EU and third-country experts was held in Warsaw on Monday to assess the measures to tackle African swine fever. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)