At the Agriculture Council on Monday 18 November, the Hungarian delegation discussed the current problems facing the beekeeping sector in Europe. Hungary expressed concern about the decline in profitability of the beekeeping sector and the “long-term mortality trend” of bees, as highlighted by recent research. Hungary has asked the European Commission to take “urgent measures” to protect honeybees.
Several delegations, including Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Spain (which requested a European survey on the causes of the reduction in the bee population and insisted on the labelling of beekeeping products), Belgium and Denmark, supported the Hungarian request to help the sector, in particular through promotional measures and the inclusion of beekeeping in the ‘European Green Deal’.
Germany and Slovakia have not observed this phenomenon of increased bee mortality.
In particular, Slovakia considered that the European beekeeping sector should be protected from unfair competition from non-Member States. There should also be more control of imported products, as some substances (pesticides) are not allowed in the EU. Poland stressed the need to know where honey comes from.
The Commission pointed out that the EU budget for beekeeping programmes has been increased (from €36 million/year to €60 million per year). It was noted that, contrary to some claims, the number of beehives is increasing in the EU (17.5 million hives in 2018). The long-term trend also shows that the number of hives is increasing.
To consult the Hungarian document on beekeeping: https://bit.ly/2CZpbNb (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)