The Council unanimously adopted the revised avian influenza and entered in its minutes a Commission statement. The Council also reached unanimous political agreement on the text regarding the Decision setting the EU contribution for eradication measures on the basis of a compromise drawn up by the Presidency and endorsed by the Commission. The text will subsequently be formally adopted at a future Council.
The thorniest issue at stake concerned the Decision, as it determined the appropriate share of the financial burden between the Member States and the Community. At technical level, several delegations suggested they would support a 50% co-financing rate for both HPAI and LPAI, bearing in mind the risk of the virus mutating from a benign to a severe status.