The European Commissioner for Animal Health and Welfare, Oliver Varhelyi, informed agricultural organizations, farmers and state agencies today that the European Union Regulation on foot-and-mouth disease will be implemented without any relaxation, said Michalis Lytras, Honorary President of the Pan-Agricultural Union of Cyprus (PEK).
In statements following a meeting they had at the "Zenon" Coordination Center in Larnaca, with the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment Dr. Maria Panayiotou, the Commissioner and representatives of agricultural organizations, affected livestock farmers and State Services, Mr. Lytras said that "today's meeting with the Commissioner has not yielded anything more than what we had been told and informed by the competent Minister."
"He simply reiterated to us that the Regulation that exists for these issues will be implemented without any relaxation and that the European Union, by implementing the Regulation, will do whatever it intends to do to help," he added.
It is noted that the meetings at the CCED began with a private meeting between the Minister of Agriculture and the Commissioner, and then a broad meeting was held in the presence of representatives of the Department of Agriculture, the Veterinary Services, the President of the CCCI and the three livestock farmers whose animals first fell ill with foot-and-mouth disease, from Livadia and Oroklini.
This was followed by a meeting between the Minister of Agriculture and the Commissioner with the stakeholders involved, including agricultural organizations, producer representatives and officials of competent state services.
Source: KYPE
