Takac: Foot-and-mouth Disease in Slovakia Being Addressed by Top EC Experts

Brussels, March 24 (TASR-correspondent) - The European Commission's (EC) top experts on foot-and-mouth disease have arrived in Slovakia, Agriculture Minister Richard Takac (Smer-SD) stated following the meeting of the European Union (EU) Agriculture Council in Brussels, which also addressed the issue of possible compensations. Takac pointed out that the EU Council was dealing with the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Europe at the initiative of Hungary, which discovered the disease near the Slovak border in early March. In the meantime, the virus has spread to southern Slovakia, which has also been the subject of discussion. According to him, the Council of Ministers, together with European Commissioner for Agriculture Christophe Hansen, also addressed the issue of possible compensations for farmers. "We've been informed that since Monday morning, two biggest experts on foot-and-mouth disease sent by the European Commission have been in Slovakia," said Takac, stressing that the European Commission experts are well acquainted with head of the Slovak State Veterinary and Food Administration Martin Chudy, with whom they've been cooperating for a long time. They acknowledged that Slovakia had taken the best possible measures to prevent the transmission of the virus. Following the talks with Hansen and at the Council of Ministers, Takac stated that both Slovakia and Hungary have the support of other EU member states, while three countries have already provided specific assistance to Slovakia, including the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria. am