Athens News Agency: News in English, 05-10-18

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] EU briefed on Greek actions against avian flu

[01] EU briefed on Greek actions against avian flu

He noted that Greece has taken all necessary measures and was fully prepared to take specific action at any stage if necessary, including those called for under the special action plan worked out in November 2004.

Basiakos also stressed that Greek actions would be carried out in consultation and collaboration with EU veterinary services, as well as EU Commissioner for Health Markos Kyprianou, while adding that the two top priorities would be to support poultry farmers and protect consumers.

He underlined the need for special EU measures to support and compensate poultry farmers, who were being severely hit by a sharp drop in consumption and the restrictions that were being imposed to stop the spread of bird flu.

The Greek minister told the council that isolations of the virus infecting turkeys on the Greek island of Oinousses in the eastern Aegean will be ready after seven days and will be forwarded to the appropriate EU agencies to determine if further measures must be taken.

Basiakos added that Greece has already banned the movement of all poultry farm products in the prefecture of Chios, both within Greece and abroad, but did not envisage any additional measures at present.

The measures were taken after the first suspected incident of the deadly bird flu virus was reported on the island of Oinousses, a small island falling within the jurisdiction of the Chios prefecture.

The Greek agriculture ministry on Monday announced that one of nine turkeys from a free-range farm had tested positive for the H5 virus after the farmer reported suspicious symptoms and deaths among his flock of turkeys on October 13.

There is no evidence as yet whether the virus found belongs to the strain H5N1, which is responsible for deaths among humans.

Basiakos said the EU foreign ministers' council had also discussed the continuation of subsidies and general support in the framework of the new CAP, which goes into effect from June 2003. The minister noted that the EU had made major concessions concerning agriculture at the World Trade Organisation with the new CAP but had not extracted commitments on a similar scale from its trading partners in the WTO.

He said that measures foreseen under the new CAP should be maintained and that a balance should be maintained between the various sectors, such as the industrial products markets and the service sector, which are included in the overall negotiations.

Basiakos particularly emphasised that the European Commission should not be allowed to exceed the mandate given it by the European Council in the negotiations.

Commission awaiting results of Thessaloniki lab, Kyprianou says

Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou, meanwhile, said that the European Commission was waiting for the results of tests being carried out on the suspected bird flu samples in Thessaloniki's national laboratory.

After the emergency General Affairs Council in Luxembourg, Kyprianou said that the samples from Oinousses had tested positive for avian flu antibodies and that the Commission had asked for samples to be sent to the Community veterinary laboratories at Weybridge, Surrey.

He said the Commission was preparing to ask for a precautionary ban on the movements of live poultry and all poultry-farm products in the Chios prefecture, where the bird flu case was reported.

Kyprianou also noted that Greek authorities had voluntarily imposed a ban on movements of poultry in the area.

The Commissioner also reiterated an appeal to EU member-states to collect as large a stock of flu vaccinations as possible in order to deal with a possible flu pandemic, stressing that the Commission's goal was to coordinate international cooperation for dealing with the problem.

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