Handover
Giovanni Filippini, although the process has yet to be completed, is the new Extraordinary Commissioner for African Swine Fever identified after the resignation of the previous Commissioner Vincent Caputo.
Appointment provision
The confirmation came from ministerial sources, specifically the Undersecretary for Agriculture Patrizio La Pietra. The appointment provision was signed in the last few hours by the Minister of Health Schillaci and the Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida and must now complete the bureaucratic process to have full official status and be defined with a Prime Ministerial Decree.
Still a current emergency
Filippini's appointment is not a surprise: his name was already circulating in the aftermath of Caputo's resignation, and in addition to holding the position of general director for animal health at the Ministry of Health, since the end of April he had been extraordinary sub-commissioner to arrest the spread of African swine fever, together with Mario Chiari and Colonel Simone Siena.