BRUSSELS NOTEBOOK: What Lessons Can Be Learned from FMD?

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Byline: RICHARD WRIGHT

GREAT Britain apart, there is a sense that, for the European Union, the worst of the Foot-and-Mouth crisis is over.

Now, the Commission and Member States want to look back and decide what lessons can be learned.

In a gesture with which most farmers will agree, the new EU Belgian presidency, which took over on July 1, has agreed to consider what measures could be introduced to boost protection against disease being brought to the EU as a result of the movement of meat or livestock.

To this end, it is planning a major scientific conference in Brussels in the autumn, at which an attempt will be made to assess the level of risk …