12/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - The fact that no specific "disaster plan" to combat swine fever had been formally approved at the time, does not mean to say that the Netherlands had not effectively combated this disease. The European Commission, consequently, had no right to reduce European financial aid provided for this Member State in the framework of a general eradication of swine fever in 1997 by 25%. That is The Hague's argument in a case it has taken against the Commission before the European Court of Justice. The Netherlands disputes claims that it reacted too later to the appearance of the disease and of having defined an inadequate radius of protection. It accuses the European Commission of not having taken account of the specific structure of pig farming in the Netherlands, of having botched its investigation on the ground and having given the notion of "adequate compensation" "a very personal content".