[ti:E. Coli Outbreak A Top Economic Worry For Europe ] [ar:Mario Ritter] [al:Economics Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:02.97]Economics Report. [00:05.09]European agriculture ministers [00:07.76]met in Luxembourg this week [00:09.94]to discuss the spread [00:11.80]of E. coli bacteria. [00:14.60]E. coli infections have killed [00:17.59]at least thirty people [00:19.21]since late May. [00:20.76]Nearly three thousand others [00:23.37]were sickened. [00:24.25]Most of the victims [00:26.30]were in Germany. [00:27.98]European officials have not [00:30.90]been able to find [00:31.96]the cause of the infections. [00:33.76]At first, German officials [00:36.69]suggested that cucumbers [00:38.86]from Spain were to blame. [00:41.23]Russia and other countries [00:43.78]quickly banned [00:45.58]vegetable imports from Spain [00:47.82]and other European countries. [00:50.31]The Spanish agriculture minister, [00:53.54]Rosa Aguilar, demanded [00:55.97]that Germany pay for [00:57.90]her country's losses. [00:59.27](SOUND) [01:02.51]John Dalli of Malta [01:04.24]is the European Union's Commissioner [01:06.73]for Health and Consumer Policy. [01:09.03]He spoke this week about the risk [01:12.27]of passing judgment too soon. [01:15.19]JOHN DALLI: "It is crucial [01:16.19]that national authorities [01:17.87]do not rush to give information [01:20.04]on source of infection [01:21.85]which is not proven [01:23.46]by bacteriological analysis, [01:24.96]as this spreads unjustified fears [01:28.38]in the population all over Europe, [01:30.56]and creates problems [01:32.55]for our food producers [01:33.73]selling products in the EU [01:36.15]and outside of the EU." [01:38.77]Russia has refused to end its ban [01:41.26]on European vegetables. [01:43.31]Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said [01:46.60]his country will not lift [01:48.66]the ban until the EU provides details [01:52.02]about the source of the infections. [01:55.00]Some critics say Russia [01:57.74]is using the issue to gain entry [02:00.48]to the World Trade Organization. [02:02.78]Russia is the largest economy [02:05.89]without WTO membership. [02:09.00]Earlier this week, [02:11.42]EU Farm Commissioner Dacian Ciolos [02:15.34]proposed farm aid of two hundred [02:18.14]twenty million dollars. [02:19.82]The goal was to help European farmers [02:22.75]recover at least fifty percent [02:26.04]of their losses. [02:27.10]By Wednesday, Mr. Ciolos [02:30.02]had raised the amount to [02:31.95]over three hundred million dollars. [02:34.00]EU officials estimate [02:36.68]the bacterial outbreak has cost [02:39.29]farmers millions of dollars. [02:41.47]But that is not the only issue [02:44.45]troubling Europe. [02:45.95]European governments [02:48.19]and the International Monetary Fund [02:50.92]are considering as much [02:52.73]as sixty-five billion dollars [02:55.34]in new loans to Greece. [02:57.95]Greek debt continues to drop in value [03:01.62]as some officials now admit that [03:04.86]earlier rescue loans were not enough. [03:08.15]This week, the Greek cabinet [03:11.14]approved measures to cut budget deficits. [03:14.12]But thousands of government workers [03:16.86]protested the planned cuts on Thursday. [03:20.59](SOUND) [03:22.65]Separately, French Finance Minster [03:24.95]Christine Lagarde is continuing [03:27.69]her campaign to become [03:29.55]the next head of the IMF. [03:32.23]She visited China this week [03:35.03]after traveling to India. [03:37.02]Mexican Central Bank Chief [03:40.19]Agustin Carstens also wants the job. [03:43.80]He is seeking to become [03:46.22]the first non-European [03:48.34]to lead the international lender. [03:51.32]And that's the VOA Special English [03:54.81]Economics Report. [03:56.61]I'm Mario Ritter.