Austrian Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat said bird flu-related problems were expected to increase in the spring throughout Europe, due to the migration of birds, and that the informal meeting had been convened to review the situation and measures in individual countries, agree a joint strategy, and jointly assess the risk of the disease spreading around Europe and the world.
Rauch-Kallat said all EU member states must launch a broad joint drive to provide the public with thorough information about bird flu to avert the spreading of panic.
Croatian Health Minister Neven Ljubicic said the states which had discovered bird flu on their territories had major difficulties with communication and transparency. He said that if only one state did not have and implement valid standards, everyone was faced with a problem.
Ljubicic urged actively engaging people who follow the movements of birds as well as taking samples from apparently healthy birds on a regular basis, which he said Croatia was already doing.
He also pointed to the need of joint action and setting up intervention teams to cover crisis areas.