(27)A mission of the Food and Veterinary Office of the Commission (hereinafter: ‘FVO’) in April 2013, revealed several shortcomings in the application of Union emergency measures against Bursaphelenchus xylophilus adopted pursuant to Commission Implementing Decision 2012/535/EUnote. Those shortcomings concern the measures taken by Portugal in the buffer zone bordering Spain. In particular, the felling, removal and disposal of pinewood nematode host trees which are dead, in poor health or situated in fire-or storm affected areas, was not completed within the deadlines fixed by Implementing Decision 2012/535/EU. Noting that, for the same reasons, the Commission decided, by Implementing Decisions 2011/868/EU and 2012/789/EU, to apply reduced levels of co-financing of similar applications in 2011 and 2012, it appears appropriate to apply a further reduction to the co-financing concerning those actions. That reduction should be proportional to the period for which the FVO mission could ascertain the improper implementation of Union measures, namely the first three months of 2013.