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05 September 2019The European Court of Justice condemned Italy, today in Luxembourg, for failing to implement all the measures envisaged by EU decisions to prevent the spread in Puglia of "Xylellla fastidiosa", the bacterium considered responsible for the desiccation of olive trees in Puglia . According to the Court's ruling, when the deadline set by the European Commission expired, on September 14, 2017, Italy had failed to comply with two of its obligations under a decision of the Community Executive: firstly, for not having proceeded immediately to the removal, in the "containment area" (the 20 km strip of the infected area bordering the "buffer zone"), of at least all the infected plants; secondly, for not having ensured, always in the containment area, the monitoring of the presence of Xylella through annual inspections carried out at the appropriate time during the year.

In this context, in particular, the Court emphasizes that Italy has not completed the annual inspection before the beginning of spring, the flight season of the vector insect of Xylella (the "Philaenus spumarius", known as "Sputacchina") , in order to allow the removal of infected plants before the infection could spread.

The EU Court, however, rejected the European Commission's request to find a constant and general breach by Italy of the obligation to prevent the spread of Xylella. According to the Commission, such a failure consists in the fact that Italy has not achieved the result sought by the Commission's decision, which was to prevent the bacterium from advancing.

The Commission maintained that there had been a repeated violation by Italy not only of the obligations imposed on it in the containment area (which indeed the Court found were not respected), but also of the obligations relating to the eradication of the bacterium in the delimited area, which includes all the rest of the infected area (practically all of Salento) and the "buffer zone" (a strip 10 km wide between the containment area and the free area).

According to the Court, the Commission has not proved the violation of those specific obligations, and the simple finding of the spread of Xylella is not sufficient proof. The Court considers that the Commission has not even proved Italy's violation of the obligation to take all the necessary measures to prevent the spread of the bacterium, nor of the obligation of sincere cooperation enshrined in Article 4 of the Treaty on the 'European Union.