Brussels, 28/02/2005 (Agence Europe) - At the Agriculture/Fisheries Council on Monday, the Netherlands, supported by Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic, voiced its misgivings at the risks of the bird 'flu ravishing parts of South-East Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, China and Indonesia) spreading to Europe. They also pointed out the risk of the virus mutating into a dangerous form of human influenza. The Netherlands called on the Commission and all of the Member States to provide financial support to the affected countries.
The European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, Markos Kyprianou, recalled measures taken at Community level (embargo on live birds and fresh meat from these countries and EU inspectors sent out on the ground). Commissioner Kyprianou also said that the EU had already spent 1.6 million EUR coming to Vietnam's aid (1 million EUR in 2004 and 60,000 so far in 2005). In the future, EU aid will feed into regional plans to fight the plague of bird 'flu, implemented by international organisations (FAO, IOE, WHO).