Xylella, backtracking: no imprisonment for those who do not uproot sick olive trees

Simplifications Decree: the crackdown on Xylella and infected olive trees is skipped.

He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him

The amendment to the simplification dl that proposed the prison for those who would have disregarded the obligation to eradicate infected olive trees had left us a bit off-limits

Simplification Decree in the Senator: 62 amendments come out and only 23 remain (two out of three amendments were declared inadmissible). Among these, the controversial rule that contemplated the prison for those who opposed the eradication of olive trees declared positive for the Xylella bacterium also jumps.

No anti-Xylella squeeze for olive trees, therefore, which had been criticized by many parties precisely for the appeal, in the case of non-compliance with the rules on the destruction of sick olive trees, even to prison.

The amendment was thus canceled by the President of the Senate Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, following the doubts expressed on the matter by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella.

Xylella Fastidiosa is a killer bacterium that in two years, particularly in the Salento area, has affected about 90 thousand hectares of olive groves. The bacterium lives and reproduces in the conducting apparatus of the raw sap (the “xylem” vessels, carrying water and mineral salts), and induces heavy alterations to the host plant. This is why the bacterium causes considerable damage to the vine, citrus fruits and the rapid drying of the olive tree.

The provision included in the Simplifications decree provided for theobligation to destroy infected olive trees, establishing a penalty of between 1 and 5 years of imprisonment for non-compliance with the new rules.

For now, the anti-Xylella crackdown will not take place, declared inadmissible by the Senate presidency during the debate in the Senate.