Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-12-13-Speech-4-117"
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"en.20011213.8.4-117"2
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"Mr President, today the future of bee-keeping in Europe is in the balance. This is about nothing less than saving a sector of production. This is a matter of urgency because, while we are consuming more honey, production is falling to dangerously low levels. Today we consume more than twice as much honey as we produce. And if we are producing less it is essentially because of the devastating effect – now scientifically proven – which a certain number of systemic insecticides used to treat arable seeds have had on bee populations, which have been really decimated. This situation is not unique or unusual; today nearly all European bee-keepers are affected.
Faced with a situation of this nature, the Commission's proposal, which is extremely weak, confines itself, as part of its new regulatory framework, to statistical work and a handful of promotion measures. These proposals are obviously not sufficient to tackle the problems affecting the sector. No one is denying that there is a need to refine the statistics, but this work is no substitute for what is most urgent, which is rebuilding bee populations so that our bee-keepers can save honey production in Europe.
Product promotion is a good thing, provided that the product concerned is available. Furthermore, you have to be particularly careful with promotion when the products concerned are ones of which we have a considerable shortfall, which is the case with honey. It is necessary to promote the link between the product and the land. I do not believe that it is the European Union's job to fund the promotion of Chinese, Argentinean or Mexican honey: these are honeys which do not guarantee traceability in any shape or form, which are not subject to quality control, which do not comply with our standards and which are often nothing but flavoured glucose syrups. We cannot claim that we wish to encourage European agriculture to develop in a way which is more respectful of the environment while at the same time letting our bee-keepers sink into indifference, and it is true that they do not constitute a powerful lobby. They are all the more deserving of our attention. Any product, including honey, can, admittedly, be purchased from outside, but the pollination of our plants is not something that can be imported. We are dealing here with an area which is essential for preserving our environment and our bio-diversity. That is why I welcome the work done by our excellent rapporteur, Mrs Lulling, and by all of the Members of the Committee on Agriculture who unanimously adopted the amendments which we tabled together. These open the door to the possibility of Community funding being made available to help European bee-keepers to rebuild their hive populations in response to this urgent situation; we state this in Paragraph 10.
Veterinary costs related to bee-keeping should also be treated in the same way as for other animals; we state this in Paragraph 5. And to safeguard the future of this industry in the long term, it is essential that, in the future, procedures for the approval of plant protection products take account of their effects on bees in terms of death or alteration in behaviour; this is our Paragraph 17. It is essential that the precautionary principle be applied here. Commissioner, the Commission needs to wake up; the Council needs to wake up. This is a matter of great urgency. We Members must sound the alarm. The European Union would bear a huge responsibility if it hastened the disappearance of our bee-keepers. I hope that all Members will support the wise, necessary and urgent proposals which we adopted unanimously in the Committee on Agriculture."@en1
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