"Following the confirmation of 2 cases of African swine fever in wild boar in Lithuania on Friday 24th
January, interim protective measures have been swiftly adopted by the
Commission to regionalise the infected area within Lithuania. On the
basis of this decision, the Lithuanian authorities immediately applied
all restrictions required by EU legislation.
The Commission has deployed since Monday 28th
January, a team of veterinary experts to assist and advise the
Lithuanian authorities. This team has been joined by Russian and
Belarussian experts and experts from the World Organisation for Animal
Health. It appears that the virus in Lithuania originates from
neighbouring non-EU countries where the disease was not contained.
At the same time, the Commission has been in
constant contact with the Russian authorities over the past days to
apply "regionalization" in accordance with WTO/SPS rules and World
Organisation for Animal Health principles. In this framework, the
Commission has proposed to provisionally exclude the infected area of
the EU from certification of exports of live pigs and pork to Russia,
but Russia is not ready to accept. Yesterday, the Russian authorities
were again given assurances on the effectiveness of EU measures and
provided with evidence indicating that the disease is confined to the
southern part of Lithuania.
I would like to stress that the measures taken
on the EU side correspond to international standards. I call again upon
the Russian authorities to take into account all the evidence presented
to them, including the results of the on the spot inspections. I will
today resubmit our proposal on regionalisation.
I deeply regret that our Russian partners are
effectively banning exports even from EU Member States which are clearly
not affected by the incident. The Commission reiterates that in view of
the reassurances provided, such a ban is disproportionate.
I intend to meet the Russian authorities as soon as possible to agree on a reasonable solution to solve this problem."
