site.btaBulgarian Agriculture Minister Vatev, EU Commissioner Kyriakides Discuss Combating African Swine Fever, Animal Welfare

Bulgarian Agriculture and Food Minister Kiril Vatev conferred here on Tuesday with EU Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides. They discussed the efforts to combat African swine fever (ASF), animal welfare and the sustainable use of plant protection products, Vatev's Ministry said in a press release.

Deputy Agriculture and Food Minister Alexander Yotsev and officials of the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency, the Executive Agency for Variety Testing, Field Inspection and Seed Control, the Risk Assessment Centre on Food Chain and other agencies.

Bulgaria briefed the Commissioner on the numerous legislative and operational measures taken by Bulgaria since 2018 for ASF prevention and management. At this point in time, the country has a stable legislative framework ensuring prevention, early detection and control. Bulgaria is working in close communication with neighbouring countries for the setting up of a uniform control framework for the disease, especially in the border areas. 

The Agriculture and Food Ministry reported that the new proposals from the European Commission on legislative amendments in the area of animal welfare are being discussed in the livestock sector. The experts presented a position that equivalent rules must be imposed on the import of animal products from third countries related to the manner in which the animals from which these products are derived have been raised. They also argued for the need of compensations for farmers and sufficiently long transition periods for adaptation to the new rules.

At the meeting, Bulgaria presented its position on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the sustainable use of plant protection products. The experts emphasized that Bulgaria does not support compulsory binding targets for the reduction of the risk from plant protection products mainly because some 85% of the arable land in this country is under cereal crops (wheat, maize, barley, rye, oats) and sunflower. They are treated with plant protection products only when necessary, which is why it is difficult to reduce the number of applications. If the reduction targets set in the Proposal remain binding, the variety of the species of crops raised in Bulgaria will change and will compromise Bulgaria's food security.

In connection with food waste management, the hosts presented the objectives set in the National Programme to Prevent and Reduce Food Loss (2021-2026). 

Another topic of discussion was the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques and their food and feed. Vatev stressed that Bulgaria has highly qualified scientists working in this innovative field.

Commissioner Kyriakides thanked the Agriculture Minister for an exceedingly fruitful discussion. She referred to Bulgaria as an important partner of the European Commission in food safety and the Farm to Fork Strategy. Dialogue and cooperation are crucial for the key areas of discussion, including the sustainable use of pesticides and plant reproductive material, new genomic techniques and food waste reduction. The Commissioner expects to work in close cooperation with Bulgaria for the achievement of progress on these important initiatives.