EU strategy for tackling bird flu

The measures triggered by the Scottish Executive last night to contain bird flu were part of a joint Europe-wide strategy agreed earlier this year as it became inevitable that the virus would reach the EU.

When Greece became the first member state to declare the discovery of a dead migratory swan carrying the deadly H5N1 strain, “emergency procedures” to shut down the movement of poultry in the affected area had to be formally adopted by Brussels.