Almost half of the European Union (EU) member states have already stepped in to support farmers in combating Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR); against this backdrop, we must act quickly because farmers cannot afford to wait any longer—regardless of whether or not we have a government—Tanczos Barna, the interim Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, stated at a press conference on Tuesday.

'We have two very important issues. One of them—already adopted as a bill, including by the Agriculture Committee—concerns the fight against African swine fever; it has passed the Senate and has also been approved as a bill by the Chamber of Deputies' Agriculture Committee. In the coming days, we will introduce a similar bill to combat small ruminant plague, in response to requests from the European Commission (...) It is worth noting that 11 Member States have already presented support schemes for farmers based on these new European frameworks. In fact, 11 have already been approved, and about two more are currently awaiting Commission approval. This means that nearly half of the Member States have already stepped in to support their farmers. We must act quickly. Farmers cannot afford to wait any longer, regardless of whether or not we have a government in place. There is a constitutional mechanism known as an extraordinary session, and I am convinced that farmers deserve this attention from the political sphere and from Parliament; I hope we can succeed in approving these legislative acts as soon as possible,' the Deputy Prime Minister stated.

Tanczos Barna emphasized that he had insistently called for Parliament to convene in an extraordinary session to support farmers and to approve the laws that would assist them.

'We are facing a situation with an interim government, which means we cannot issue an emergency ordinance or provide farmers with the support programs intended to partially offset the rising costs of diesel and chemical fertilizers. For this reason, before the parliamentary session ended, bills concerning the cattle and pig sectors were passed by the Senate. They have also cleared the Agriculture Committee and are awaiting approval from the Budget-Finance Committee as well as a vote in the plenary session. Unfortunately, this was not possible during the final week. I am not looking to assign blame or accuse anyone, but for days—even weeks—I have been insistently calling on Parliament to convene an extraordinary session to support farmers and approve these bills. Furthermore, two additional proposals will be added this week—one for the crop sector and one for the sheep sector—ensuring that the entire agricultural spectrum is covered by measures supporting farmers affected by the rising prices of diesel and fertilizers,' said the interim Minister of Agriculture.

The National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) imposed a 30-day domestic quarantine for sheep and goats earlier this month as part of a national plan of urgent, integrated measures to contain and combat Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) and African Swine Fever (ASF).

According to a press release from the institution, the decision aims to rapidly isolate the virus's transmission routes, given that it loses its contagiousness within 21 days. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Daniel Badea; EN - writing by: Catalin Cristian Trandafir)