New Money In The Mediterranean: More Bird Flu
- June 22nd, 2007
- Posted by EUEditor
Travellers to Cyprus and Malta can expect to be using euros there after the start of next year, after the two countries received endorsement this week (20.6.07) by the European Commission to adopt the transnational currency.
The European Parliament had also approved the move, and the final step is to be approval by Finance Ministers at the European Council on 10.7.07.
The Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner, Joaquin Almunia, said the addition of the two small state would mean 15 of the 27 EU countries were in the “euro area”, using the joint currency; with 320-million out of some 500-million total EU population.
“Thanks to economic and monetary union the euro area has now enjoyed ten years of price stability and low interest rates,” the Commissioner said.
Several new member states on the European union have applied to adopt the euro; some other, notably the United Kingdom, have chosen to defer the move in the longer term.
H5N1 WON’T GO AWAY
This week (20.6.07) the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, H5N1, was identified, after the deaths of 1800 out of 6000 turkeys on a farm in the Czech Republic.
Standard operating procedures have gone into force, with a three-kilometre protection zone, and ten k surveillance zone set up around the farm in the Pardubicky region.