The European Commission has published on October 11th, 2019 a list of 20 regulated quarantine pests qualifying as priority pests. The list included Xylella fastidiosa whose economic, environmental and social impact on EU's territory is the most severe. Member States will have to launch information campaigns to the public, do annual surveys, prepare contingency plans, simulation exercises, and action plans for the eradication of these pests.
The selection of pests is based on the assessment carried out by the Commission's Joint Research Centre and the European Food Safety Authority.
It has been shown that the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, the pest with the highest impact on agricultural crops, including fruit, could cause annual production losses of €5.5 billion, affecting 70% of the EU production value of older olive trees (over 30 years old) and 35% value of younger ones, in a scenario of the bacterium spreading across the entire EU. In addition to direct impacts on production, pests have significant indirect effects on a wide range of upstream or downstream economic sectors.
CURE-XF deals with different aspects of the current re-emergence of diseases caused by Xylella fastidiosa: from the detection and characterization of the bacterial strain to the control and management of the diseases. The consortium relies on multidisciplinary expertise on genetics and bioinformatics, pathogen-hosts interactions, diagnosis and monitoring, vector transmission and epidemiology, etc.), with the aim to raise awareness and strengthen actions for prevention. The project promotes collaborative efforts to support capacity building at different level in different Countries.
CURE-XF involves 18 partners from the following countries: Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Belgium, the UK, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, Palestine and Iran
