Fighting animal diseases and plant pests: €154 million earmarked for 2019

For 2019, the Commission decided to allocate about €154 million to the fight against animal diseases and infectious diseases of animals that can be transmitted to humans as well as to support plant pests surveys. "The fights against African Swine Fever and Xylella are daily examples of the EU's actions on diseases and pests which represent concrete threats to the income of our citizens and the key economic sectors. The sums awarded today illustrate how serious we are on these issues. These funds will be used by Member States' authorities to help them react swiftly tackle outbreaks that could have a serious impact on animal and human health, economy and trade", said Vytenis Andriukaitis, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety.In the animal health area, €141 million was awarded to support the implementation of the 142 approved programmes for eradication, control and surveillance of diseases, in particular African Swine Fever (which represents a big threat to EU economy) or animal diseases transmissible to human such as bovine tuberculosis, rabies and salmonellosis in poultry. In the plant health area, the EU has committed more than €13 million for the survey of 62 plant pests in 24 Member States in 2019 (this represents 817 individual plant pest surveys), with the greatest part of the funds going towards the fight against Xylella fastidiosa, one of the most dangerous plant pests in the world.

More details available online: National Veterinary Programmes and Survey Programmes.