EU divided over Italy's olive tree disease

The EU is being railroaded into a plan to eradicate up to 1 million centuries-old olive trees in one of the most picturesque tourist spots of southern Italy, campaigners say, causing untold environmental damage in the mistaken belief that such radical action could contain an outbreak of a killer bug.

The Salento peninsula in Apulia, the region that forms the heel of Italy’s boot, is the only part of the EU that has been affected by the Xylella fastidiosa bacterium.

Its olive trees...