THE AGRICULTURE Ministry yesterday rubbished media reports claiming compensations offered to farmers affected by foot and mouth disease were given outside the law.
According to Simerini newspaper and CyBC radio yesterday, the Registrar of State Funding said the government’s decision to offer farmers compensation to reintegrate into the farming industry, did not comply with European acquis communautaire.
Furthermore, the law clearly states that any government funding should be first approved by the Registrar, which was claimed not to be the case with the FMD package.
These claims were backed by the Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Yiannakis Thoma of AKEL, who said his committee had read the Registrar’s report on the issue.
The Registrar deemed these compensations “illegal” as he had not been notified.
“If a preliminary draft for state funding is put into power by the Republic without the approval or notification of the Registrar, the Registrar, after hearing first the implicated parties, and after taking into consideration the nature and gravity of the violation, depending on the case, he is capable with a substantiated decision to order the beneficiary of the preliminary draft to return any amount he had received, submitted also the legal interests,” the Registrar explained in his report.
But he stressed that he would not begin proceedings for the return of the compensations that have already been given out due to the prevailing conditions.
Now farmers still waiting for compensations are in upheaval, as they see the measures reduce day by day.
The Agriculture Ministry yesterday issued an announcement denying any funds would be cut.
“In view of media publications that compensations towards farmers whose animals were slaughtered were stopped as they were illegal – and that those who weren’t compensated will never be compensated – the Agriculture Ministry stresses in the most categorical way, that all livestock farmers will be compensated, based on the provisions of the plan:
‘Compensations/Empowerment Of Livestock Farmers Due To Foot And Mouth’, which has been approved by the Registrar of State Funding.”
The news came in the wake of a European expert’s claims that Cyprus may not have suffered a foot and mouth outbreak at all.
Dr Paul Sutmoller, the Chairman of the European Livestock Association’s Animal Health and Welfare Committee, who has spent years of expertise solely on FMD, recently expressed his view that the problem in Cyprus may have been dealt with by vaccinating the affected animals.
He also cast serious doubt over whether the active form of the disease did indeed exist in Cyprus.
“If there had in fact been foot and mouth disease in Cyprus, the disease would most likely have spread widely by the time of detections and notification,” he said.
Dr Sutmoller’s views emerged in a response to MEP Marios Matsakis’ letter to the European Commission, in which he openly doubted
Matsakis yesterday claimed Cyprus was a laughing stock in the EU because of the way it handled the foot and mouth issue.
