The Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health approved the draft commission decision for the €11,506,000 package on 9 November.

Both countries will join the EU on 1 January 2007. The money will be used to monitor, eradicate and control rabies, classical swine fever, salmonella in breeding hens, avian flu surveillance, TSE monitoring and scrapie eradication.

In total, the EC has approved a €193m (£129m) package towards combating animal diseases across all member states in 2007.

Markos Kyprianou, commissioner for health and consumer protection, said: “Safeguarding animal health is an essential factor in ensuring food safety, and in avoiding the often devastating consequences that animal epidemics can have. The decision to allocate considerable resources to fight against animal diseases shows the Commission’s unwavering commitment to this goal.”

Source: FWi