Update: General Prosecutor’s Office has decided to open a criminal investigation in the case of the African swine fever epidemic, judicial sources told mass media.
President Klaus Iohannis has asked on Wednesday that new checks to be conducted over the way the responsible authorities have enforced the control and prevention measures to stop the spreading of the African swine fever, as they are stipulated in the national surveillance, prevent and control programme adopted in 2016.
The head of state warned the Government and the prime minister over their responsibility related to the inefficiency of the measures to stop the virus, arguing that tardy, uncoordinated and scarce measures compared to the needs in the field have represented essential factors which have favored the virus spread, risking to affect the entire Romanian animal husbandry sector.
„The Government has the responsibility over the crisis prompted by the ASFV spread in the country, as Romania registered the fastest growing increase of the outbreak among all the European countries affected so far. This explosive evolution of the ASF actually proves that the responsible central and local authorities are overwhelmed”, says a press release by the Presidential Administration.
The President stated that the Executive should have adopted the necessary measures to prevent the African swine fever since early 2017, for the first clear warnings related to the virus spread in Romania have been received in February 2017, following the audit carried out by the European Commission’s Directorate General Health and Food Safety.
Agriculture minister: There is difficulty in countering the virus
On the other hand, Agriculture minister Petre Daea, stated on Mondat that there is difficulty in countering the African swine fever virus, because it has no cure and cannot be controlled, for it “is not coming riding the bike”.
Daea claimed that Romania has defended itself against the virus through preventive measures in the past 5 years.