EU financial support of up to €104.3 million and €103.5 million has been granted to 130 and 129 veterinary programmes in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Additionally in 2022, €801 000 has been granted to five non-EU countries (Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Moldova and Kosovo) to support the surveillance of African swine fever and lumpy skin disease.
Funding criteria
The EU financial contribution for diseases eradication, control and surveillance programmes (veterinary programmes) is granted based on Regulation (EU) 2021/690. The list of eligible animal diseases and zoonoses is laid down in Annex III of the Regulation.
To obtain co-funding, EU countries and eligible non-EU countries must submit their veterinary programmes to HaDEA by 31 May of the year proceeding the year of the start of the programme implementation.
HaDEA performs technical and financial evaluation of the submitted programmes, with the support of external experts. Each programme evaluation is based on the following criteria:
- Consistency of the submitted programmes with the objectives and expected results;
- Overall quality of the submitted programme (relevance of the planned activities in terms of type of measure proposed and quantities);
- Compliance of the submitted programme with the requirements of Union veterinary legislation/rules;
- Progress expected compared to the situation of the disease in previous years.
Other principles applicable to the evaluation include: equal treatment, impartiality and confidentiality.
During the course of each implementing year, EU countries are required to submit by 31 August an intermediate report for each approved programme, with the results of the first semester and the updated plans for the second semester. EU countries are required to submit by 30 April of the subsequent year, a final technical and financial report and claim for reimbursement of eligible expenses.