European Union farm ministers are meeting on Monday to discuss the issue of state aid to the poultry sector as bird flu spreads among wild birds across Europe. Under current rules, Brussels can co-finance 50 per cent of the cost of any required culling of birds or destruction of eggs.

But EU direct support for the poultry sector is relatively limited because poultry does not benefit from the same special clause that was introduced for beef to allow additional aid measures, in the wake of the “mad cow’’ crisis that swept the UK a decade ago.

Italy said last Friday it was prepared to defy EU limits on farming state aid to come to the rescue of its beleaguered poultry farmers, which could prompt other European farmers to demand higher subsidies to offset the impact of bird flu.

Gianni Alemanno, the Italian agriculture minister, said he would ask Brussels to allow Rome to double to €40m subsidies for farmers left with unsold poultry. He said: “If we don’t get the (Brussels) authorisation, we will ask the government to go ahead even if it means risking EU sanctions.” Brussels said it needed further information to assess whether such a move would conform with EU rules.

France confirmed on Sunday that its first case of the lethal H5N1 bird flu virus was found in a dead wild duck near Lyon, marking the most westerly point the virus has reached in Europe, having spread across Asia and into Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Slovenia, Austria, Italy and Germany, reports Martin Arnold in Paris.