Decision 2009/470/EC lays down the procedures governing the Union financial contribution for programmes for the eradication, control and monitoring of animal diseases and zoonoses.

Spain submitted an amended programme for the monitoring and eradication of bluetongue to introduce compulsory vaccination against serotype 8 in certain regions following outbreaks of that disease.

Slovakia submitted an amended vaccination programme for the eradication of rabies to extend the area in which baits are distributed, following the occurrence of the disease in bordering areas of Poland.

Poland and Finland have submitted amended programmes for the eradication of rabies to include oral vaccination activities in certain areas of neighbouring third countries adjacent to the Union, in order to protect the Union from a reintroduction of rabies through the movement of infected wild animals across the common borders.

The Commission has assessed the amended programmes submitted by Spain, Poland, Slovakia and Finland from both the veterinary and the financial point of view. The programmes were found to comply with relevant Union veterinary legislation and in particular with the criteria set out in Decision 2008/341/EC.

The amended programmes submitted by Spain, Poland, Slovakia and Finland should therefore be approved.

Decision 2010/712/EU provides for a financial contribution from the Union for Slovakia for those oral vaccination activities included in the annual programme for the eradication of rabies in that Member State that are implemented in bordering areas of neighbouring third countries. In addition, that Decision provides for a financial contribution from the Union for Lithuania for those oral vaccination activities included in the multiannual programme for the eradication of rabies in that Member State that are implemented in bordering areas of neighbouring third countries.

It is therefore appropriate to also provide for a financial contribution from the Union for those parts of the programmes for the eradication of rabies in Poland and Finland that are implemented in bordering areas of neighboring third countries adjacent to the Union.

The approval by this Decision of the amended programmes for the eradication of rabies submitted by Poland and Finland has an impact on the amounts needed for carrying out the programmes for those Member States as approved under Decision 2010/712/EU. The maximum amount of Union financial contribution for the programmes for the eradication of rabies in Poland and Finland, laid down in that Decision, should therefore be adjusted accordingly.

Decision 2010/712/EU should therefore be amended accordingly.

The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health,