The European Union was gearing up on Monday for a series of emergency meetings on the world-wide swine flu outbreak amidst fears of a global pandemic, dpa reported.
EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou has asked for EU health ministers to hold crisis talks on the issue "as soon as possible," her spokeswoman, Nina Papadoulaki, told the German Press Agency dpa.
It would be up to the Czech government, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, to convene the meeting.
The commissioner herself is set to travel to Luxembourg on Monday to give an emergency briefing on the issue to EU foreign ministers, who are holding a scheduled meeting there, Papadoulaki said.
But EU foreign ministers warned their citizens against panic, saying that it was too early to say how the situation could develop.
"Let's wait until the authorities, those who really know, have their evaluation of the situation. I don't think we should have undue worries until we know what's really happening," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said.
There are as yet no confirmed cases of the disease in the EU, Papadoulaki stressed.
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