site.btaEU Inspectors to CheckOvine Rinderpest ControlEffort in Bulgaria

Sofia, July 16 (BTA) - The European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety will conduct an inspection in Bulgaria between July 17 and 21, the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) reported on Monday. The inspectors will look into the BFSA's work in controlling an outbreak of ovine rinderpest in the country.

Around 4,000 sheep and goats have been culled so far in the southeastern Bulgarian regions of Bourgas and Yambol due to the ovine rinderpest outbreak. The large-scale effort has met with fierce protests by farmers.

Ovine rinderpest (also known as peste des petits ruminants, or PPR) was first reported in Yambol Region on June 21. That was the first time that the disease had been detected within the territory of Bulgaria and of the European Union. Ovine rinderpest is present in neighbouring Turkey, but it is unclear how the disease has reached Bulgarian territory.

Ovine rinderpest is not dangerous for humans but is extremely dangerous for goats and sheep.

By order of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, an emergency centre was set up on Sunday to coordinate the suppression of ovine rinderpest. It includes the leadership of the Food Safety Agency and the Interior Ministry, and Agriculture Minister Roumen Porozhanov.

During its first meeting Monday, the emergency centre took three additional measures: cancelled all public gatherings of large groups of people in the 10-km security zone of the outbreaks; stepped up checks of vehicles; and daily cleaning of unspecified "locations" in the 10-km zone. The measures were announced by the head of the energency centre, Interior Minister Valentin Radev.

He also said that they will be meeting Tuesday with the leaders of the parliamentary parties in an effort to dispel all suspicions about the measures being taken and update them on the sotiation.

President Rumen Radev issued a statement Monday bashing the power-holders for failing to adequately inform farmers about the measured that were to be taken and to ensure them that their interests would be protected. "Unfortunetely, the anger of the affected farmers and people across the country is now a fact," said he.

Radev also says that he is following "with concern the actions of the government for dealing with the outbreak of ovine rinderpest in Strandja. "The government has in its hands all tools for containing the crisis."

He urges the government to say whether the large-scale killing of livestock will remain the only measure for containing such crises in future. He also asks why preventive measures including quarantine and monitoring, were not taken and why vaccination is being ruled out.

"Once again, the reliability of the border fence [between Bulgaria and Turkey] is being put to question," he says.

Bulgaria built a fence along its green border with Turkey in a bid to deter illegal migrants.

The President calls for fair compensation of the affected farmers. "Restoring the quality of herds and the psychological trauma from the destruction of the animals will take time. The government should use it to support the affected farmers, restore their livelihood and, most of all, to take wise steps to prevent the recurrence of such crises," the head of State says.

Speaking in the northern town of Veliko Turnovo on Monday, Vice President Iliana Iotova said: "The culling of animals in Southern Bulgaria is like punitive action in the eyes of the people. I will not comment on the subject now because the most important thing is to guarantee the health of the people in those areas. I will wait for the European inspection but the sad thing is that I have had the feeling that the government has been absent these days. Such a crisis warrants even an extraordinary sitting of Parliament to hear out the ministers, the BFSA leadership or at least the competent parliamentary committee." VE/LN/СН/VI/PK




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