The Commission is expected to respond negatively to the request of Cyprus so that not all animals in the units where foot-and-mouth disease is detected are killed, according to Phileleftheros.
The European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, Olivér Várhelyi, is in Cyprus for critical contacts regarding the crisis of foot-and-mouth disease and at the center of the discussions is the request of Cyprus to deviate from the relevant regulation.
However, as the officials who were at the meeting also report, there does not appear to be a positive development.
The European Commission appears to insist on the strict implementation of Regulation 2020/687, even taking into account the particular conditions of Cyprus.
According to the honorary president of the Pancyprian Farmers Union of Cyprus, Michalis Lytras, the Commissioner repeated that the European regulation will be implemented without any relaxation and that the European Union will offer the assistance that is provided by the framework of the legislation. Similar was also the position of the general secretary of the Union of Cypriot Farmers, Panikos Hambas, who stressed that the meeting did not bring a positive result.
Despite the pressures of Nicosia for an exception from the killing of animals in infected units, information from Brussels reports that such a derogation is considered extremely difficult to impossible. The European Commission appears to insist on the strict implementation of Regulation 2020/687, even taking into account the particular conditions of Cyprus.
Sources: Φιλελεύθερος, Reuters, Καθημερινή
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