Implementing decision concerning Xylella fastidiosa

28.1.2019

Question for written answer E-000420-19
to the Commission
Rule 130
Rosa D'Amato (EFDD)

Xylella fastidiosa is an insect-borne bacterial plant pathogen that is associated with serious diseases affecting a wide variety of plants. In October 2013 Xylella fastidiosa was detected in a number of olive trees in the province of Lecce. This was the first Xylella fastidiosa outbreak in field conditions to be reported in the European Union. In November of that same year, EFSA delivered to the Commission an urgent scientific opinion and technical assistance on Xylella fastidiosa. A number of implementing decisions concerning Xylella fastidiosa have been published since October 2013.

According to Article 288 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), a decision shall be binding in its entirety and may not be applied in an incomplete, selective or partial manner. Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/927 amends Implementing Decision (EU) 2015/789 as regards measures to prevent the introduction into and the spread within the Union of Xylella fastidiosa (Wells et al.). That decision extends the infected zone to cover the municipalities of the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto, where areas infected by the organism in question have been detected.

Can the Commission clarify whether a Member State may enter into negotiations with a view to amending an implementing decision, and what the regulatory basis is for such a request for amendment?