Debate: European Citizens’ Initiative "Save bees and farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment"
Date: THURSDAY, 16 MARCH 2023
Speaker: Mairead McGuinness
Language: EN

This European Citizens’ Initiative is talking about saving bees and farmers. We’ve heard very strong contributions from the Environment Committee, the Agriculture Committee and the Petitions Committee. So I want to congratulate the members of those relevant committees for a very successful public hearing in January on this topic, because it allowed the organisers to present their initiative and for Members to express their views. I think today’s plenary debate is also about exchanging views on this topic. It also shows that the European Citizens Initiative can be very much agenda setting and it allows citizens to shape the public debate on critical issues for the European Union. Our citizens are increasingly concerned about the use of pesticides and the build—up of pesticide residue in the environment. Society as a whole, including farmers, wants to see less pesticide use and lower risks. We also saw this in the calls from the Conference on the Future of Europe and indeed other European Citizens’ Initiatives. We anticipate that the recently updated EU rules for approving micro-organisms for use in plant protection will facilitate more access to biological alternatives to chemical pesticides. We also need to acknowledge that farmers need workable alternatives to allow them to continue to supply consumers with food. In addition, the revision of the EU Pollinators Initiative adopted in January and the upcoming revision of the bee guidance document for pesticide risk assessment will boost protection for bees and wild pollinators. Recent analysis carried out by the JRC shows that biodiversity loss is a major threat to EU food security. It already affects our agriculture sector with potentially irreversible impacts in Europe and globally. We have lost so much nature already that just protecting what we have is no longer an option. We really have to step up efforts not only to preserve, but also to restore nature and to reverse biodiversity loss. This will help to improve essential ecosystem services like pollination and pest control. Honourable Members, you will decide on two Commission proposals on the regulation on nature restoration and the regulation on the sustainable use of plant protection products. I would ask you to keep this Citizens’ Initiative in mind in your decisions. European citizens expect an ambitious outcome and substantial progress in the transition towards sustainability. This initiative also raises key questions as to how farmers can play a central role in the transition towards more environmentally sustainable agriculture. And it calls for an increase in agroecological and organic practices. The new common agricultural policy entered into force in January this year. It has significantly higher environmental ambition compared with the past. It provides a combination of obligations for farmers to be able to benefit from CAP support, and it supports more demanding practices, allowing reduced pesticides, the development of organic farming, the creation of new landscape features and other environmentally friendly agricultural practices. The new regulations, if ambitious, and the new CAP, if implemented correctly, will help the EU respect the commitments made at the Convention on Biological Diversity COP 15 under the new Global Biodiversity Framework. We need to solve the energy crisis in this decade with efforts by everyone for nature and pollinators, for farmers and for all Europeans. Our farmers are custodians of the land and they are central to this effort. Their futures depend on it, and we should listen to their concerns. The debate today will feed into our ongoing reflection. We will present our general conclusions, including the action we intend to take in our communication planned for early April. I look forward now to an exchange of views.