A4-0116/94

Resolution on the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, 'Discussion paper on European apiculture'

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on European apiculture, 'Discussion paper on European apiculture' (COM(94)0256 - C4-0108/94),

- having regard to its opinion of 10 April 1992 on the proposal for a Regulation amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 827/68 on the common organization of the market in certain products listed in Annex II to the Treaty ((OJ C 125, 18.5.1992, p. 283.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 15 May 1992 on beekeeping in the European Community: problems and requirements ((OJ C 150, 15.6.1992, p. 346.)),

- having regard to the provisions of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the opinion of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection (A4-0116/94),

A. whereas it is concerned at the persistently difficult economic situation of beekeepers in Europe,

B. whereas, partly for hygiene and health, social and climatic reasons, honey production costs in the European Union significantly exceed the world market price,

C. whereas European honey producers will come under more intense pressure following the signing of the GATT Agreement because of the reduction in the customs tariff for imported honey,

D. whereas honeybees perform a vital ecological function in maintaining the natural balance,

E. stressing the economic significance of pollination by colonies of bees,

F. whereas preserving stability in ecologial and socio-economic terms is a key objective of the Union; whereas that objective must be reflected in common policies in all sectors of activity concerned,

G. whereas there are still no representative statistics on the structure of apiculture in the European Union,

1. Reiterates its call for immediate support measures for European apiculture, which should ideally be based on a common organization of the market in honey, with the simplest possible administrative arrangements;

2. Requests the Commission to submit as soon as possible the proposals it has announced for

- an action programme to improve production, processing, and marketing conditions,

- a study, to be carried out by the Member States, of the structure of apiculture, and

- measures to implement a quality policy,

but at the same time notes that these accompanying measures alone will not decisively improve the difficult economic situation of apiculture in the EU;

3. Calls on the Council in this connection to agree to the introduction of a Community pollination premium for every beehive payable to all beekeepers, both commercial and part-time, on ecological and socio-economic grounds with a view to maintaining adequate bee populations for the pollination of our flora; requests that the amount of the premium should be sufficient to cover the costs of winter feeding;

4. Calls, with a view to introduction of the premium and bearing in mind that winter feeding costs vary according to the geographical area in question, for the EU to be divided into zones;

5. Calls on the Council to instruct the Commission to submit an action plan (research programme) to combat bee diseases, in particular varroa mite disease;

6. Calls on the Council to advocate financial compensation for loss of income attributable to the absence of Community preference;

7. Proposes that the compensatory premium for income loss should be channelled, as far as possible, through the producers' organizations that market honey, which will be required, if necessary, every year to declare the number of working hives, the number of members and the volume produced and marketed;

8. Stresses the need to establish common marketing standards for honey, which should in particular include specific quality criteria reflecting the differences in quality of the product and, with a view to informing consumers, a requirement for honey to bear a label indicating its origin and the botanical variety;

9. Calls for imported honey to meet hygiene and quality standards and with that specific end in view:

- for effective steps to be taken to prohibit the import of honey contaminated by pathogens such as American Foulbrood (AFB),

- for the quality of imported honey to be guaranteed by means of a fixed limit on the permitted quantity of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), and

- for it to be made compulsory for honey harvested wholly or partially in third countries to be marked 'imported honey';

10. Calls for steps to ensure that all the different measures falling under the heading of agricultural structures policy are properly applied to apiculture;

11. Calls for compensatory payments for farmers in mountainous regions and other less-favoured areas to be extended to apiculture so as to minimize the natural and socio-economic disadvantages affecting producers in these regions and to safeguard their contribution with a view to preventing a widespread exodus;

12. Advocates that measures to improve production, processing and marketing conditions be expanded to include a special programme to improve training and further training, particularly of young beekeepers; advocates, further, that particular attention likewise be given to associations and cooperatives, since in many cases these are the only means of offsetting the small scale of producers' operations and the widely scattered supply; stresses that encouragement be provided to enable producers' organizations to be set up along similar lines to those in other agricultural sectors;

13. Hopes that steps will be taken to boost research into apiculture, focusing on products obtained without the use of synthetic chemical ingredients;

14. Calls for measures to be taken to enable complete statistics to be compiled on honey production and the market, not least by providing aid with which to establish and develop monitoring centres set up on a voluntary inter- branch basis;

15. Takes the view that measures to promote high-quality honey produced in the EU are needed to boost growth in the sector and that, in the first place, the provisions of Regulations (EEC) Nos 2081/92 on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin for agricultural products and foodstuffs ( ((OJL208, 24.7.1992, p. 1.))) and 2082/92 on certificates of specific character for agricultural products and foodstuffs ( ((OJ L 208, 24.7.1992, p. 9.))) should be invoked for that purpose;

16. Points out that the marketing of bee-glue (propolis), which is widely used, especially in apitherapy, on account of its antibacterial action, is subject to restrictions in some Member States under the law governing medicines and drugs and calls in this connection for preparations containing propolis to benefit from Community-wide arrangements to facilitate their marketing, for example as apicultural products;

17. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, Commission and the governments of the Member States.