Dutch Attack Bluetongue Finance Package
The Dutch Agriculture Minister Gerda Verburg has hit out at the proposed financing of the European vaccination programme to fight bluetongue.
28 February 2008
1 minute read
During the recent agriculture council meeting the minister said that the Commision had changed the finacing arrangements.
She said that the Health commissioner Markos Kypryanou had promised the commission would pay 100 per cent of the cost of the vaccine and 50 per cent of the cost of applying the vaccine.
However, she said that recently the Commission had announced that the co-financing is for a fixed amount per animal.
And Minister Verburg said that fixed amounts would not work in the Netherlands' as they are set at well below the cost of the vaccine and well below how much it would cost to vaccinate each animal.
She said that a good finance package was essential for an effective mass vaccination programme and she called on the European Commission to take into account the special characteristics of each members state and also the size of the companies and teh veterinary structure in each state.
TheCattleSite News Desk
