EU Measure Spares Monumental Trees as New Xylella Cases Emerge

The European Union approved new mea­sures for the man­age­ment of areas con­t­a­m­i­nated by Xylella fas­tidiosa (Xf). After hear­ing requests by Italy, the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF Committee) dur­ing its last meet­ing in Brussels approved the text of the European emer­gency mea­sures to pre­vent the spread of the bac­te­ria.

The new plan pro­vides for:

• The pos­si­bil­ity to replant trees in the infected area, with the excep­tion of the north­ern­most 20km (12.42mi)
• The right to not raze uncon­t­a­m­i­nated mon­u­men­tal olive trees within 100m (328ft) of any plant ver­i­fied to be infected, on con­di­tion that they are pro­tected by the spit­tle­bug vec­tor of Xf and reg­u­larly inspected
• The option of free han­dling the three vine vari­eties Negroamaro, Primitivo and Cabernet Sauvignon (which were found to be not sus­cep­ti­ble to Xf) from the demar­cated area

The new mea­sures also pro­vide for the strength­en­ing of inspec­tions of European pro­duc­tion sites of olive trees and other plant species that can be affected by the bac­te­ria such as ole­an­der and almond trees.
See Also:Articles on Xylella Fastidiosa
The deci­sion was the result of per­sis­tent diplo­matic work over the past few weeks in Brussels, said Minister of Agriculture Maurizio Martina, who added that the pro­tec­tive mea­sures applied to imports will pro­vide greater safety guar­an­tees.

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The adop­tion of new rules occurred shortly after the detec­tion of new infected plants in in the province of Brindisi. According to diag­noses by the Phytosanitary Observatory of the Apulia Region, since the begin­ning of October the bac­te­ria was found on four­teen olive trees near the Northern limit of the buffer zone: twelve in the area of Ostuni and two oth­ers in Ceglie Messapica and Casalini, a dis­trict of Cisternino.

This sug­gests that that the dis­ease has headed north and the buffer zone should be extended to the south­ern part of the province of Bari.

According to EU rules, ​“if the pres­ence of the spec­i­fied organ­ism is con­firmed in the buffer zone, the delim­i­ta­tion of the infected zone and buffer zone shall imme­di­ately be reviewed and changed accord­ingly.”

Furthermore, some olive trees are located at ele­va­tion 300m (984ft) above sea level, which is the high­est alti­tude so far asso­ci­ated with the pres­ence of Xylella. This is one of the rea­sons super­vi­sory author­i­ties and sci­en­tists are push­ing to find effec­tive solu­tions.

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• La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno


• La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno

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