WRITTEN QUESTION P-3455/02 by Giacomo Santini (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Outbreak of avian influenza in Italy.
Date: 2002-11-28
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, animal plague, export restriction, poultrymeat, vaccination

C 155 E/156

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

3.7.2003

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(27 January 2003)

The Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) is a tool designed to provide an effective and
efficient means to control direct aids to farmers, but there are no particular IACS forms as implied by the
question. IACS was introduced as from claim or harvest year 1993 and presently covers animal subsidies
in the bovine, ovine and caprine sectors, and in respect of surface subsidies it covers arable crops, rice,
grain legumes and set-aside land.

IACS had to be completed by 1 January 1997 at the latest, since when IACS-related expenditure has been
declared at EUR 669,6 million for 1998, EUR 755,7 million for 1999, EUR 734,6 million for 2000,
EUR 752,6 million for 2001 and EUR 722,9 million for 2002.

It is not strictly correct to refer to fines in relation to the Commission’s clearance of accounts procedure,
according to which the Commission decides to refuse expenditure for which a Member State fails to
provide the Commission with reasonable assurance as to the effectiveness of the management and control
procedures used to check the legality and regularity of the aid schemes. Financial corrections are not
applied by enquiry but by financial year and so, in answer to the question, a global amount is considered
more appropriate. In respect of Greece, for claim years 1997 to 1999, a total amount of EUR 156 153 993
has so far been refused Community financing in this way in respect of IACS-related schemes. However, the
clearance of accounts procedure continues in respect of the years 1999 onwards, and further refusals to
finance are envisaged during 2003.

(2003/C 155 E/174)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3455/02

by Giacomo Santini (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(28 November 2002)

Subject: Outbreak of avian influenza in Italy

An outbreak of avian influenza caused by the low pathogenic H7N3 virus has been recorded in the Italian
provinces of Verona, Mantua and Brescia. So far, the influenza has almost exclusively affected turkey
farms. In order to check the spread of the disease, the Italian authorities are to ask the EU for authorisation
to vaccinate vulnerable species in the risk area.

However, recourse to vaccination may mean that it is no longer possible for poultry products from the
vaccination areas to be exported to other Member States. The three provinces in question produce around
80 % of the turkeys reared in Italy, with exports accounting for around 20 % of total production.

It is therefore clear that an export ban would entail:

(cid:1) a 20 % reduction in turkey production;

(cid:1) the importation of poultry meat from third countries (Brazil and Thailand);

(cid:1) the loss of the German market;

(cid:1) a possible limiting of the vaccination radius and the concomitant risk of the disease persisting and the

virus mutating from a low pathogenic virus to a high pathogenic one.

In view of the above, could the Commission indicate whether emergency vaccination could be authorised
without the possibility of exporting to other Member States being forfeited? Exportation was possible
during the previous influenza outbreak in 2000, when discriminatory testing made it possible to
distinguish between animals that had the disease and animals that had tested positive as a result of being
vaccinated.

Would it be possible to vaccinate a vast area with a heterologous vaccine (H7N1) and to allow exportation
to continue while still guaranteeing with absolute certainty that the animal meat to be exported is not
harbouring the virus because the animals were not carrying it prior to slaughter?

3.7.2003

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 155 E/157

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(9 January 2003)

After submission of an emergency vaccination programme by Italy and following the advice of the
Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, the Commission by means of Decision 2002/
975/EC on introducing vaccination to supplement the measures to control infections with low pathogenic
avian influenza in Italy and on specific movement control measures (1) has authorised Italy to apply
emergency vaccination against avian influenza in some areas of the regions of Lombardia and Veneto.

The meat of vaccinated turkeys may be dispatched for intra-Community trade to other Member States,
provided that certain controls are carried out in the holding of origin, including the use of a laboratory test
able to distinguish vaccinated and healthy poultry from the infected ones, as these controls are considered
sufficient to ensure a high level of safety of the meat of these animals as regards avian influenza.

(1) OJ L 337, 13.12.2002.

(2003/C 155 E/175)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3468/02

by Graham Watson (ELDR) to the Commission

(6 December 2002)

Subject: Iberian lynx

Has the Commission made contributions to efforts designed to reverse the impending extinction of the
Iberian lynx? Is the Commission aware of any breeding programmes, in captivity or in the wild? Are any
EC funds allocated towards such a breeding programme?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(29 January 2003)

The Commission has supported, for several years already, conservation projects targeted at the Iberian lynx
in both Portugal and Spain. In particular, several LIFE-Nature projects received community funding for
increasing the knowledge about the species and for creating adequate conditions, in terms of habitats and
food resources, for the conservation of the Iberian lynx on sites where it still can be found or for allowing
the return of the species to areas that it inhabited in the recent past. Altogether there have been 18 LIFE
Nature projects on Iberian lynx in Spain and two in Portugal; three of these are still ongoing.

The Commission is aware that during the year 2000 the Directorate-General for Nature Conservation in
the Iberian Lynx’. The National
Spain has prepared an ‘Action plan for breeding in captivity of
Commission for Nature Protection in Spain approved this plan and it is carried out in the facilities of
Doñana National Park. To date no direct funding for this undertaking have been requested or given by the
Commission.

LIFE Nature projects on Iberian Lynx:

(cid:1) Year 1994:

(cid:1) Conservation of the Iberian lynx (cid:1) Castilla y León (LIFE94 NAT/E/001186)

(cid:1) Conservation of the Iberian Lynx (Comunidad de Madrid) (LIFE94 NAT/E/004808)

(cid:1) Conservation of the Iberian Lynx (LIFE94 NAT/E/004809)

(cid:1) Conservation of the Iberian Lynx (LIFE94 NAT/E/004810)