On Monday 28 June, most of the EU Agriculture Ministers supported setting a specific goal at EU level for the protection of honey bees in relation to the use of pesticides.
A majority of Ministers (including those from Spain, Luxembourg, Ireland, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria) supported the European Commission’s proposal that the maximum permitted level of reduction in bee colony size due to pesticide exposure should be set at 10%.
Several countries, including France, Italy, the Netherlands and Slovenia, have expressed a preference for a level of 7%. France accepts 10%, if it promotes a rapid agreement. “I cannot accept the Commission’s proposal”, countered the Dutch Minister.
Finland called for a level of protection of 8%, Bulgaria for 12%.
Many Ministers have also stressed the importance of taking into account the latest scientific advice.
In order to allow EFSA to continue its review of the 2013 guidance document on bees and to proceed with the adoption of the Regulation(s) to implement it, EU Agriculture Ministers were invited to exchange views on the subject.
The 2013 EFSA guidance document also proposed a figure of 7% reduction in colony size. But Member States have always been divided on this figure. This topic has been on the agenda for twenty years, the Dutch delegation noted. Ministers called for a rapid agreement on a protection goal for honey bees.
Bulgaria has reported a surge in bee mortality.
The NGO PAN Europe is very concerned. Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) has slammed the agreement, saying it will continue to harm European pollinators and insects in general, in defiance of the EU’s biodiversity strategy.
The NGO called for an ‘acceptable reduction’ of up to 5% to take account of the lack of protection due to the many shortcomings in the risk assessment of the toxicity of pesticides to bees.
“We are highly concerned because allowing for 10% reduction in honey bee colony size means we accept an important impact of the use of pesticides on insects. This will maintain on the market pesticides that are a main driver of the decline of pollinators in Europe”, said Martin Dermine of PAN Europe on 29 June.
According to him, “Member States and the European Commission base their decision on a single exposure scenario while in real life, our pollinators are exposed to cocktails of pesticides and other toxic chemicals on a daily basis. Evidence also shows that pesticides increase bees’ susceptibility to pathogens. This is not considered at all” (see EUROPE 12746/14, 12572/14).
Link to the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council document: https://bit.ly/3x6Zuoa (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur and Aminata Niang)