Brussels opens 60.7 million euro support for Italian egg and poultry farms

The European Commission has activated exceptional market support for Italy’s egg and poultrymeat sectors, part-financing 50 % of the expenditure borne by the Italian authorities to compensate producers hit by 103 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza. The measure is laid down in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2205 of 5 October 2026, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series, of 6 October 2026.

A disease that emptied the regulated zones

Between 22 September 2022 and 24 May 2023, between 13 November 2023 and 30 March 2024, and between 29 September 2024 and 1 March 2025, Italy confirmed and notified to the Commission 103 outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza of subtype H5. The species affected were broilers, laying hens, turkeys, ducks, Guinea fowls and geese.

Italy applied the animal health and veterinary measures required by Regulation (EU) 2016/429 and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/687, establishing protection and surveillance zones — the “regulated zones” — under a series of Commission Implementing Decisions listed in the annex to the new regulation. Fallowing periods were prolonged, the placing of birds was prohibited and movements were restricted on holdings of all types of poultry, causing losses of hatching eggs, consumption eggs, live animals and poultry meat, as well as destroyed and downgraded eggs and meat.

The Italian request and the EU response

On 22 May 2026 the Commission received a formal request from Italy for part-financing under Article 220(3) of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, the common organisation of the markets in agricultural products. Italy documented the request with data and explanations of the measures applied, and reported that a large number of operators in the regulated zones had suffered income losses not eligible for Union contribution under Regulation (EU) 2021/690.

Under Article 220(5), Union part-financing must equal 50 % of the expenditure borne by Italy. The regulation caps the Union contribution at EUR 60 690 108, broken down by category of loss:

• EUR 54 875 414 for prolonged fallowing periods: up to 16 360 773 animals in 2022-2023, 11 778 523 in 2023-2024 and 19 758 341 in 2024-2025.
• EUR 176 511 for the shortening of the production cycle (early slaughter): up to 13 001 and 23 000 breeding animals in the first two periods.
• EUR 1 812 884 for prolonged rearing and fattening: up to 209 138, 191 578 and 479 839 animals.
• EUR 1 042 136 for the total loss of value of animals and hatching eggs: up to 2 166 230 chicks culled and 624 684 hatching eggs destroyed, plus 102 486 chicks culled in 2024-2025.
• EUR 2 783 163 for the partial loss of value of eggs: up to 84 514 300 table eggs sold for processing, and 2 386 960 hatching eggs downgraded plus 37 176 740 table eggs sold for processing.

Deadlines, checks and safeguards

Expenditure is eligible only for holdings in the regulated zones covered by the animal health measures, and only if paid to beneficiaries by 31 May 2027; no payment made after that date can be financed. Where eligible quantities exceed the ceilings, adjustments may go beyond the per-item amounts provided the total adjustment stays below 20 % of the maximum part-financed expenditure.

To avoid overcompensation and double funding, losses must not have been covered by state aid or insurance, nor by a Union contribution under Regulation (EU) 2021/690. Italy must carry out administrative and physical checks under Articles 59 and 60 of Regulation (EU) 2021/2116, recover unduly paid compensation and apply sanctions where eligibility is not confirmed, and communicate the clearance of payments to the Commission.

The regulation was adopted in Brussels on 5 October 2026 and signed for the Commission by its President, Ursula von der Leyen. It enters into force on the third day following publication, on 9 October 2026, and is binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Why it matters

The regulation converts a veterinary emergency into a budget line: Italian egg and poultry producers in the zones locked down across three consecutive seasons now have a legal basis to claim half of their documented losses, with payments expected to reach them well before the May 2027 cut-off. For the rest of the EU, it sets the template — 50 % co-financing, capped quantities and strict anti-double-funding checks — for how Brussels responds when avian influenza shuts down a national poultry sector.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, 6 October 2026 (official reference: CELEX:L_20262205).