Romania receives second instalment of money from European Commission to combat African swine fever

Romania received the second instalment worth 3.9 million euro from the 34.28 million euro grant, representing the financial contribution of the European Union (EU) for combating the African swine fever (ASF), informs the National Sanitary-Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA), in a press release sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday. 

"The European Commission sent to the National Sanitary-Veterinary and Food Safety Authority on 28 December a second instalment of 3.9 million euro from the 34,278,750 euro grant representing the Union's financial contribution to the actions undertaken by our country to combat the African swine fever. This payment was made under the condition that the grant award decision 'SANTE / EM / AH / 2018 / ASF / RO' allows the payment of an advance of up to 50 percent and of the subsequent payments," mentions the authority. 

According to the cited source, the official correspondence of the European Commission stipulates that the next instalment of the advance will be granted when the budget situation allows it. 

"The payment, in a short time since the Grant Decision, of 13.9 million euro out of the 17 million euro advance, is a confirmation that the Romanian Government has acted and is acting to combat the African swine fever in full compliance with the requests of the European Commission," ANSVSA specifies. 

The first instalment, worth 10 million euro from the European Commission grant for emergency measures regarding the combating of the African swine fever, was paid to Romania on 13 December 2018. 

The presence of the PPA virus was reported in Romania for the first time on July 31, 2017, in Satu-Mare County, but this year the virus has spread, and now there are outbreaks in 301 localities from 19 counties. According to the latest official data, the number of outbreaks reached 1,145, of which 19 in commercial farms and 558 in cases of wild boar. 

In total, as many as 364,212 pigs affected by this disease were culled and 8,535 owners were compensated until December 28, 2018. The total amount of payments has reached almost 251.121 million lei.