L 125/86 Official Journal of the European Union 26.4.2014 COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION of 24 April 2014 concerning a Union financial contribution towards surveillance and other emergency measures implemented in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland against African swine fever (notified under document C(2014) 2551) (Only the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish texts are authentic) (2014/236/EU) THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Having regard to Council Decision 2009/470/EC of 25 May 2009 on expenditure in the veterinary field ('), and in par- ticular Article 8 thereof, Having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (3, and in particular Article 84 thereof, Whereas: (1)  African swine fever (ASF) is an infectious, usually fatal, viral disease of domestic and feral pigs which causes serious disturbances to intra-Union trade in and export to third countries of live pigs and products derived from animals of the porcine species. (2)  Following the confirmation of ASF in Georgia in 2007, the disease spread to the Russian Federation where numerous outbreaks of that disease have been reported in pigs and wild boar throughout the European part of Russia. In June 2013, Belarus reported the confirmation of an outbreak of ASF in backyard pigs in the region of Grodno, some forty kilometres from the Lithuanian border and close to the border with Poland. (3)  Commission Implementing Decision 2013/498/EU (}) provided for a Union financial contribution towards surveillance and other emergency measures against ASF implemented in 2013 in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, which are the Member States at direct threat of ASF introduction. (4)  InJanuary 2014 the disease has been reported in the wild boar population in Ukraine and it is still spreading in Belarus and in the Russian Federation. Furthermore, in January 2014 two ASF cases were detected in the wild boar population in Lithuania and after few days two further cases were reported in the wild boar in Poland. In both Member States the disease occurred at the border with Belarus. Therefore, the ASF situation in countries bordering the European Union represents a persistent threat to pig holdings within the Union, due to the fact that the virus may be introduced into Member States bordering the infected third countries through wild boar entering Union territory from infected areas, but also through vehicles which have transported live animals or through the unauthorised introduction into the Union of products derived from animals of the porcine species. (5) The risk of ASF introduction into the Union is higher for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland due to the occur- rence and the evolution of this disease in the bordering territory of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. These Member States have informed the Commission and the other Member States of the measures that they intend to adopt to strengthen the protection of their territories and of other Member States. () OJL155,18.6.2009, p. 30. () OJL298,26.10.2012,p. 1. () Commission Implementing Decision 2013/498/EU of 10 October 2013 concerning a Union financial contribution towards surveillance and other emergency measures implemented in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland against African swine fever in neighbouring third countries (OLL 272,12.10.2013, p. 47).