"Saving Mantua and Cremona from the plague'.

What is the area in Lombardy that concerns you most today?

The provinces that could really create serious economic and social consequences are Mantua and Cremona, where almost 5 million head of pigs are bred, more than 50% of Lombardy's pig population. These two provinces alone would represent 20% of all pigs in Italy. This would be an extremely difficult situation, which we must prevent at all costs and in every way.

How much money for the swine fever emergency has been distributed in Lombardy so far?

Roughly speaking, at the moment the compensation amounts to EUR 25 million: some of it is taken from the national health fund and some of it will have to be guaranteed by the central government. All the funds used in Lombardy to deal with this problem are provided by the extraordinary commissioner for swine fever, who in turn receives them from the government.

So what autonomy does the Lombardy Region have to deal with this emergency?

Let us clarify one point: when a government decides to appoint an extraordinary commissioner, it means that in some way it directly assumes responsibility for the management of a problem. The commissioner becomes the highest point of reference, and the regions somehow lose part of their autonomy because they have to refer to the guidelines and ordinances adopted by the commissioner.

What do you think of the new swine fever commissioner, Giovanni Filippini, who was appointed in August?

Filippini is the right person in the right place. He has a lot of experience and has already eradicated swine fever in Sardinia, so he is very competent and is off to a good start. We have already had several meetings with him in Milan, we have established an operational plan, and we have agreed that we need to act quickly.

Lombardy is the region with the most outbreaks. How come?

We are the most exposed region because half of Italy's pigs are bred here. If we then look at its geographical location, thinking also of the Covid experience, we see that it is subject to a number of access routes that unfortunately facilitate the spread of the virus. We know that a large part of Eastern Europe is affected by swine fever: just think of how many road transport vehicles arrive from those countries in Lombardy, to understand how easy the risk of contamination is.

It is not only swine fever on Italian farms today, but also bluetongue and bird flu. As an expert on epidemics, even before being a councillor, do you feel more concerned than in the past?

All these are not new diseases, but they can find fertile ground in an ecological and environmental framework that has changed, and which has favoured their development. Being able to move from Milan to Beijing, Melbourne, Cape Town or Los Angeles in a little over ten hours, the possibility of contamination is now very easy. So the new holistic approach that we are trying to ensure today, the so-called One Health, where in fact all problems - of humans, animals and the environment - must be seen as a single factor and tackled with a team effort, is right. A modality that we here, in Lombardy, are already implementing.