Activities of Michel DANTIN related to 2017/2115(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Prospects and challenges for the EU apiculture sector (debate) FR
Amendments (51)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 a (new)
Citation 4 a (new)
- having regard to the European week of bees and pollination – EU Bee Week – which has been held at the European Parliament since 2012,
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 b (new)
Citation 4 b (new)
- having regard to the EFSA report ‘Collecting and Sharing Data on Bee Health: Towards a European Bee Partnership’ of September 2017, which put into practice the European Bee Partnership
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the beekeeping sector is hugely significant (around EUR 14.2 annually), as 84 % of plant species and 76 % of food production are dependent on pollination by wild and domestic bees, which also helps maintain the ecological balance and biological diversity in Europe;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the beekeeping sector is hugelycontributes significantly (around EUR 14.2 annually), as 84% of plant species and 76% of food production are dependent on pollination by bees, which also helps maintain the ecological balance and biological diversity in Europe;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas the importance of pollination in the EU is not sufficiently recognized because this service is taken for granted, while for example in the United States 2 billion euros are spent per year for artificial pollination;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas on 11 May 2015, Slovenia initiated at the meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council the official recognition of 20 May as the World Bee Day to be declared by the UN, which idea was widely supported by all Member States; whereas it was agreed there that particular attention should be paid to the apiculture sector in terms of agriculture, plant protection and sustainable farming, because bees have a large impact on ecological balance in the World;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas the National Apiculture Programmes provides participants with the opportunity to undertake research and development projects; whereas successful projects can contribute a lot to strengthen the apiculture sector and its capability to resist better to natural and market crises; whereas there is a need to support beekeepers' request on sharing know-how on projects between Member States;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas there is a need for beekeepers to operate in harmony with the services which they carry out and to do so responsibly and professionally; also in order to be able to cope with challenges such as climate change, natural disasters, reduction of bee pastures and the high administrative burden in some Member States;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas the causes of bee mortality are multifaceted and vary markedly according to geographical area, local characteristics and climatic conditions;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas farmbeekeepers are often powerless to combat bee diseases and parasites as they lack clear information, training and effective means of counteracting these threats; pointing out that beekeepers receive support for protective measures against Varroa destructor, which there has so far been no success in eradicating as there are no effective remedies as yet and R&D efforts are very inadequate, not least as regards treating hives (treatment against parasitic species, the impact of bee diets, exposure to chemical products); whereas beekeepers are obliged to declare diseases and the parasites affecting them, entailing the systematic destruction of hives; stressing that this may encourage beekeepers not to declare diseases and pests;
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas beekeepers, agricultural producers and environmentalists also expect there to be a clear scientific consensus on all substances and other factors which are a danger to bees’ healththe causes of bee mortality and the ways to eliminate these; noting that the lack of coordination of research into pollinators at European level is resulting in a proliferation of studies whose varying – and even contradictory – scientific findings can be partially ascribed to the use of different analytical methods and research protocols; stressing that this confused situation is hampering efforts to counter pollinator mortality;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas the introduction of harmonised data that is available and accessible throughout Europe is one of the main challenges in terms of better combating the decline in pollinators; stressing the importance of sharing that data among all stakeholders in the bee sector, and notably beekeepers; noting, in this connection, the value of digital tools and media; pointing to the ‘European Bee Partnership’ initiative, launched in June 2017 by EFSA during the European Week of bees and pollination to respond to this challenge;
Amendment 87 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I b (new)
Recital I b (new)
Ib. whereas a common and harmonised database should contain information on, inter alia, the type of crop and agricultural practice, the presence of pests and diseases, climate and weather conditions, the landscape and infrastructure, the density of bee colonies per Member State, and the bee mortality rate;
Amendment 90 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I c (new)
Recital I c (new)
Ic. whereas it is important to step up dialogue and cooperation among all the stakeholders (beekeepers, farmers, scientists, NGOs, local authorities, plant protection industries, the private sector, veterinarians and the general public), including on the collection and sharing of data;
Amendment 95 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital J
Recital J
J. whereas the statistics indicate progress in the EU’s beekeeping sector, with an increase in the number of bee colonies and honey production over the past 15 years and an ongoing rise in the number of beekeepers, and especially of amateur beekeepers;
Amendment 104 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas beekeepers alwaysre produceing less and less honey once the winter is over, because of autumn and winter losses which can be as much as 50 % in some Member States, and as a result of the thinning of colonies in that period;
Amendment 108 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L a (new)
Recital L a (new)
La. whereas the scarcity and poor diversity of flowering plants are one of the main causes of the weakening and/or mortality of the bee population, and of the decrease in hive productivity; pointing out that agriculture, given the surface areas and crop diversity involved, is the main source of the bee diet throughout the year; noting that farmers should be encouraged, within the framework of the ‘ecological focus areas’ under the CAP, to implement ‘beekeeping focus areas’, in particular during the low-flowering season; considering also that the planting of flowering plants in gardens and urban areas, by the public and/or local and regional authorities, also helps enrich pollinator dietary sources;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L b (new)
Recital L b (new)
Lb. whereas the increase in bee mortality has forced beekeepers to buy new colonies more regularly, resulting in an increase in the production costs for honey products; noting also that the cost of a bee colony has increased at least four times over in recent years; noting lastly that replacing a bee colony can often lead to a decrease in production in the short and medium term, since new colonies are less productive when first being established;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas there has been a two-fold increase in the amount of honey produced and exported in some countries over the past 15 years whils; deplores the fact that the EU is barely 560% self- sufficient in honey – a figure which is not increasing – cannot be explainewhile the number of hives in the EU nearly doubled between 2003 and 2016 and the number of beekeepers increased from around 470 000 to around 630 000 during the same period; whereas in 2015 the three leading European producers of honey were Romania, Spain and Germany, followed by Hungary, Greece, France and Poland;
Amendment 120 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital O
Recital O
O. whereas every year the EU imports 25about 40% of the honey it uses (60 % of its annual imports) each year from these countries, which is why Europe’s beekeepers are in dire straitconsumed in the EU; whereas, in 2015, the honey imported was on average 2.3 times cheaper than the honey produced in the Union, creating a serious competitive disadvantage for Europe’s beekeepers compared to producers from third countries;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Q. whereas since 2001 the amount of honey in the world’s major honey- producing regions has stagnated or decreased as a result of the poor health of bees, whilst the amount of honey produced in China has increased by over 80 % (20doubled (to around 450 000 tonnes in 2012);
Amendment 135 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q a (new)
Recital Q a (new)
Qa. whereas China produces 450 thousand tons of honey per year according to the statistics, which is more than the combined honey production of the EU, Argentina, Mexico, the United States of America and Canada;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital R
Recital R
R. whereas 100 000 tonnes of imported honey arrives in the EU from China every yearin 2015 half of the EU’s imported honey (200 000 tonnes) came from China – double the amount in 2002 – even though the number of bee colonies has declined in other parts of the world;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital U
Recital U
U. whereas in December 2015the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in its meeting in December 2015 discussed quality concerns about honey imported into the EU and the competitiveness of the European apiculture sector; whereas in conclusion the Commission ordered the centralised testing of honey;
Amendment 148 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital V
Recital V
V. whereas the honey samples from the Member StatMember State honey samples were tested by the Joint Research Centre, which found, among other things, that 20 % of the samples taken at the EU’s external border and at importers’ premises were fake honeythat did not respect the honey composition and/or honey production processes laid down in the Honey Directive (2001/110/EC), and 14% of the samples contained added sugar;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital AA a (new)
Recital AA a (new)
AAa. whereas this excellent initiative is open to all EU Member States to contribute to the education of children to eat healthy food such as honey and to promote the apiculture sector;
Amendment 160 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital AA b (new)
Recital AA b (new)
AAb. whereas the EU school programmes represent a critical tool to reconnect children with agriculture and the variety of EU agricultural products, particularly those produced in their region; whereas in addition to fresh fruits and vegetables and drinking milk, these programmes allow Member States to include other local, regional or national specialties such as honey;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital AF
Recital AF
AF. whereas other beekeeping products such as pollen, propolis, beeswax and royal jelly also contribute significantly to people’s wellbeing and play an important role in the healthcare and cosmetics industries; whereas, however, these products are not defined in the ‘Honey’ Directive (2001/110/EC), which mitigates against implementing an effective sectoral policy and impedes quality-based approaches and the fight against fraud;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. calls on the European Commission to do its utmost to ensure that the United Nations, by the end of this year, declares the 20th of May as World Bee Day;
Amendment 208 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Understands that financing of beekeeping must be increased in future agricultural policy preferably from 2021;
Amendment 216 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Proposes a 47.8 % increase doubling the EU budget for national beekeeping programmes – in line with the actual increase in the bee population – as compared with the 2004 level, which translates as EUR 47 million annually;
Amendment 234 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to include a new direct support scheme for beekeepers based on colony numbersing in its proposals for the common agricultural policy post-2020; emphasises the need to link supports with appropriate training in beekeeping,
Amendment 244 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Considers that it would be wise to share beekeeping research topics and the findings which result – particularly where these are financed by the EU – among the Member States in order to avoid duplication; to set up a common database, harmonised at EU level; and to improve the sharing of such information among all parties involved, in particular beekeepers; therefore calls on the Commission to boost EFSA’s research programmes in this area, particularly the ‘Collecting and Sharing Data on Bee Health: towards a European Bee Partnership’ project, which was launched as part of the European Week of Bees and Pollination;
Amendment 248 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. calls on the Member States to adequately ensure the basic and vocational training of beekeepers; feels that beyond the agricultural and other economic aspects of apiculture the teaching material should contain a knowledge related to pollination and other environmental services such as maintaining the ecological balance and preserving biodiversity;
Amendment 270 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
Amendment 273 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls on the Commission to launch a study on the feasibility of a beekeeping risk management fund within national beekeeping programmes to deal with loss of production suffered by professional beekeepers in the form of an allowance calculated according to the Olympic average of the turnover of the businesses affected;
Amendment 285 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Believes that ‘beekeeping areas’ , along the lines of EFAs, should be encouraged as part of the greening of the CAP;
Amendment 293 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Understands that some invasive alien species such as the Varroa destructor, the small hive beetle (Aethina tumida), the Asian hornet and American foulbrood, as well as some pathogens, are the main cause of bee mortality and are causing serious harm to beekeepers and widespread destruction among bees; calls on the Commission to draw up an inventory to evaluate the existing and emerging health risks at EU and international level prior to setting up an action plan to combat bee mortality; proposes making the fight against Varroa compulsory at EU level;
Amendment 296 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Understands that some invasive alien species such as the Varroa destructor, the small hive beetle (Aethina tumida), the Asian hornet and American foulbrood are causing serious harm to beekeepers and widespread destruction among bees; acknowledges that bees are vulnerable to native diseases and pests; encourages research into effective breeding programmes to produce bee species resilient to invasive species and diseases;
Amendment 300 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Calls on the Commission and Member States to support applied research into the breeding of Varroa resistant honey bee-stocks possessing the behavioural trait of Varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH), in order to ensure optimal use of VSH knowledge and resources and to integrate and exchange materials, techniques and methods at an European scale and level;
Amendment 313 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls on the Commission to involve all relevant drug producers in research into bee drugs, primarily to combat Varroa, and to set up a common IT platform to share best solutions and drugs with interested parties;
Amendment 323 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Acknowledges that the results of monitoring exercises to assess the bee health situation carried out by some Member States are important and should be shared with the other Member States and with the Commission; calls for an EU wide online mechanism to facilitate knowledge transfers;
Amendment 330 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Calls on the Member States and the regions to use all means possible to protect local and regional bee varietspecies from the undesirable spread of naturalised or invasive alien varieties in the EU; species and alien species of flora or fauna in the EU which have a direct and/or indirect impact on pollinators;
Amendment 336 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Calls on all municipal authorities in the EU to make every effort to increase green areas around their settlement in order to stop the decline of bee pastures;
Amendment 410 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Expects honeyBelieves that honey should always to be identifiable from the moment it leaves the hive and to be classifiable according to its plant origin, irrespective of whether it is a domestic or an imported product, except in cases of direct transactions between a producer and a consumer;
Amendment 425 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 25
Paragraph 25
25. Calls on the Commission to require official batch-sampling and testing of honey from non-EU countries at the EU’s external borders, in line with Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 (later Regulation (EU) 2017/625);
Amendment 432 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Asks that the ‘blend of EC and non- EC honeys’ descriptor be replaced by an indication of exactly which country or countries the honeys used in the final products come from and that these be listed in the order which corresponds to the percentage proportions used in the final product (i.e. the percentage of EC and non-EC honeys);
Amendment 433 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Asks that the ‘blend of EC and non- EC honeys’ descriptor be replaced by an indication of exactly percentage of which country or countries the honeys used in the final products come from and that these be listed in the order which corresponds to the proportions used in the final product;
Amendment 442 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28 a (new)
Paragraph 28 a (new)
28a. Requests that the Commission amend the Honey Directive (2001/110/EC) by means of a directive on apiculture products, circumscribing all such products:honey, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax, pollen pellets, bee bread and bee venom, as Parliament has already requested and voted for;
Amendment 455 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 30 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Paragraph 30 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Acknowledges the role of consuming locally produced honey as a means to build up resistance to local allergens;
Amendment 482 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34 a (new)
Paragraph 34 a (new)
34a. Calls on the Commission to propose an incentivising equivalence coefficient for 'apiculture areas' and 'honey fallows' as one of the ecological focus areas that are obligatory for the receipt of greening aid under the common agricultural policy (e.g. a coefficient of 1ha of 'apiculture area' or 'honey fallow' = 2ha of ecological focus area);