The European Commission announced on Monday 17 June that it will provide €120 million over the next 3 years to help improve the conditions for the apiculture sector and the marketing of their products.
This amount, doubled by national contributions from Member States, will apply to national apiculture programmes starting on 1 August 2019 and ending on 31 July 2022.
This represents an increase of €12 million compared to the support provided for the EU for the period 2017-2019.
On 14 June, the Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union the decision approving the national programmes submitted by the Member States under Regulation 1308/2013 to improve the production and marketing of apiculture products.
Measures include, for example, education to beekeepers, support to start a beekeeping business, fighting against parasites damaging hives, and research or measures on improving honey quality. In 2018, the EU had more than 17.5 million hives divided among 600,000 beekeepers. The EU is the world's second largest honey producer.
Spain has the highest appropriations (more than €16.8 million over three years), ahead of Romania (€15.6 million), Poland (almost €12 million) and Italy (€10.5 million). (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)