the Italian Medicines Agency declared that his position was unconstitutional in view of how the question is regulated by the Law 194 of 1978. In 2013 Zaia spoke against the LGBT adoption, saying: "I have nothing against gays, but the possibility of adoption seems to me to be an extreme measure with unpredictable effects." Zaia however liberalised artificial insemination for women up to 50 years. Economic issues In August 2010, an anti-globalization group demonstrated in Vivaro against the planting of genetically modified organisms. The demonstration was supported by Zaia, who demanded a "return to legality", even though his predecessor Giancarlo Galan, a member of his coalition, was in favour of GMOs. After a flood in 2010, Zaia and his coalition changed a regional law to permit the reconstruction of rural ruins up to 800 cubic metres. The Democratic Party claimed that this was an attempt at "cementification". The National Association of Building Constructors (ANCE) also called the law a "bad choice". Zaia was criticized when, after the flood, he asked for more funds for the reconstruction, saying, "It's a shame spending €250,000,000 for four stones in Pompei." Venetian independence Zaia announced that he too had voted (yes) in the unofficial, non-binding, online and privately organised 2014 Venetian independence referendum and explained that he would seek "total independence" for Veneto. Zaia has compared the status of the Veneto within Italy to that of Crimea within Ukraine. Venetian autonomy Zaia was a strong proponent of and oversaw the 2017 Venetian autonomy referendum, in which turnout was 57.2% and 98.1% of participants voted "yes". Covid-19 outbreak In February 2020 Zaia apologized after criticizing China over the COVID-19 pandemic and claiming that Chinese people "eat live mice". Zaia has anyway emerged strengthened from the crisis, widely praised for keeping hospital admissions down. Miscellaneous In the occasion of the 2011 referendums on four questions concerning the repeal of recent laws regarding the privatisation of water services (two questions), a return to the nuclear energy which had been phased out after the 1987 referendum, and criminal procedure, specifically a provision exempting the Prime Minister and the Ministers from appearing in court, he voted "4 Yes". He called for more transparency and demanded more citizens' supervision of public administration. Personal life Luca Zaia was born on 27 March 1968 in the Province of Treviso. In 1993, he received a degree in the science of animal production at