The management committee for eggs and poultry today approved a Commission proposal to allow the co-financing by the EU budget of measures to support the poultry market, because of the negative effects of the recent avian flu crisis. The proposal specifies the type of measures which can be 50 percent financed by the EU. It focuses on "upstream" measures, i.e. those which aim to temporarily reduce production, such as the destruction of hatching eggs. It sets a maximum level of compensation per unit destroyed as well as the maximum number of units per Member State and the time period covered by each measure. The Commission does not propose co-financing of "downstream" measures such as aid for private storage or the destruction of existing stocks of poultry meat. Some 14 Member States have applied for EU support for their poultry sector. The expected cost to the EU budget of the measures proposed is between EUR 50 and EUR 65 million.