MEPs debate on a European citizens’ initiative on phasing out synthetic pesticides and creating bee-friendly agriculture. Opening statements by Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA,NL), ENVI; Norbert LINS (EPP,DE), AGRI; Ana MIRANDA (Greens/EFA,ES), PETI and by Mairead MCGUINNESS, European Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability, and Capital Markets Union.

statement

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

EICKHOUT, Bas (Greens/EFA, NL)

McGUINNESS, Mairead (EPP, IE)

LINS, Norbert (EPP, DE)

EU's beekeeping sector (T)

PAZ, Ana Miranda (GUE/NGL, ES)

European Citizens’ Initiative "Save bees and farmers! Towards a bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment": opening by Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL), Norbert LINS (EPP, DE), Ana MIRANDA (Greens/EFA, ES), Mairead MCGUINNESS, EU Commissioner

SOUNDBITE (English), Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL), Good morning to you all. We are discussing today a European citizens initiative that got more than 1 million verified signatures. And the title of that initiative is Save the Bees, where everyone is, of course, very much concerned about it, but I think also very important saved the farmers. And for very short. I know that we will have a discussion again about our farming model. But what the citizens are aiming for here also is by changing our agriculture model, we can save the bees and the farmers at the same time. And for me, that is always a pretty strange part of the discussion that I have here in this House when we are discussing agriculture.

SOUNDBITE (English), Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL), I don't meet anyone who is happy with the developments in our agriculture system. We see that young farmers are more and more reluctant to get into this business. We see that less and less farmers are there and that they're getting bigger and bigger, but that the profits are shrinking. So no one is really happy with the current agriculture model. Doesn't that mean we need a substantial change, a substantial change that benefits the farmer, but also benefits on natural system, which agriculture system is build upon? And that is exactly what this initiative is trying to put forward. And that's also a call to the commission to do now something about the change of our agriculture system. And of course, the Commission launched its Farm to Fork initiative, which, by the way, was very well supported by this House as well. But now the question is, what are we going to do with the farm to fork ambition? Yes, there is one file out. That is the sustainable use of pesticides.

SOUNDBITE (English), Bas EICKHOUT (Greens/EFA, NL), And you see already and probably some colleagues will mention that again, there is not full support for that proposal and some even want to get rid of it. That would mean there is nothing of the farm to fork strategy. Then on the table. Then what's your plan? You will stick to business as usual with the model you're not happy about. So something needs to change. And this is really a question to the commission. What are you going to propose to change? Not strategies, not initiatives, not night reports, but laws to change, to make us less dependent of pesticides, fertilisers, antibiotics, because that's the model that needs to change for the bees and the farmers. Thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (German), Norbert LINS (EPP, DE), - President, Commissioner. Dear Colleagues, Bees are an essential part of our ecosystem without bees. There's no food, but farmers are also an important part of our ecosystem. Without them, there's no harvest, there's no food. And so for that reason, it is important that we work together with them, with all of the farmers. We need to talk about practical, implementable solutions. We need to work together with the farmers in cooperation, not in confrontation, because we are going to have to make decisions.

SOUNDBITE (German), Norbert LINS (EPP, DE), - If we are to diet idealistic, then we won't achieve the objectives that we've said. The European Citizens Initiative saved bees and farmers towards a bee friendly agriculture shows how important this matter is to European citizens. But the question is how can we protect bees and farmers in the long term? And I can only say that is something we can do with dialogue. We need alternatives and we have to come up with these alternative substances. And then we can talk about reduction. And we need the commission to be on board with this. And when we're talking about biodiversity and how we maintain or improve biodiversity, then we have to talk about family businesses.

SOUNDBITE (German), Norbert LINS (EPP, DE), - Many of them complain that they're being pushed into the background and that farmers are stopping. But a lots of demands on them documentation that mean that smaller farmers simply stop farming and that there's no future generation taking on the farms. And in my region, Baden-wuerttemberg, we are trying to take the path of cooperation. We have a legislation on biodiversity and I think that the Commission should have a look at this in more detail. Because at the moment we're in a bit of a dead end.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ana MIRANDA (Greens/EFA, ES) Thank you very much. President. Commissioner, First and foremost, I would like to congratulate those who took the initiative for the Citizens Initiative. It is absolutely a success. And on behalf of the Petitions Committee, we would like to offer you our support. More than a million citizens stated that this is a priority for European citizens. Therefore, we need to make sure that we follow up on these important initiatives of citizens participation in participative democracy. And that is the case in terms of the organisation of this. They made a request to us that we would have more done to save bees and farmers, to support our environment and to make sure that we have healthy food and a healthy environment.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ana MIRANDA (Greens/EFA, ES) They made a request for us to meet to make sure that we bolster our policies to better protect farm land, to make sure that they are a driving force in biodiversity protection. Support to farmers is needed, as is support for the environment, biodiversity, farming, supporting small farms, SMEs and sustainable and organic farming. Research and development for pesticide free farming as well as GMO free farming.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ana MIRANDA (Greens/EFA, ES) The petitioners pointed, for example, to the importance of making sure that we restore our ecosystems. Now we support a full protection of bees and other pollinators that are currently suffering a dangerous decline, one that is underscored in Europe but around the world as well. Many bee species are under threat. The populations are falling, some 80% and some 40% are at risk of endangerment. This decline is due to several things, and the European Citizens Initiative is a great opportunity for the EU to take as strong measures to stem this decline in the population.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ana MIRANDA (Greens/EFA, ES) Farmers in Galicia very much are requesting this type of support and we support it as well. Thank you to everyone and thank you very much.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mairead MCGUINNESS, Commissioner, Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, Good morning. Colleagues. Like the farmers of Europe, we are up early and having this really important debate and for obvious reasons, I'm very happy to be taking this very important debate. This European Citizens Initiative is talking about saving bees and farmers, and we've heard very strong contributions from the Environment Committee, the Agriculture Committee and the Petitions Committee.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mairead MCGUINNESS, Commissioner, Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, So I want to congratulate the members of those relevant committees for a very successful public hearing in January on this topic, because it allowed the organisers to present their initiative and for members to express their views. And I think today's plenary debate is also about exchanging views on this topic. It also shows that the European Citizens Initiative can be very much agenda setting and it allows citizens to shape the public debate on critical issues for the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mairead MCGUINNESS, Commissioner, Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, Our citizens are increasingly concerned about the use of pesticides and the build up of pesticide residue in the environment. Society as a whole, including farmers, want to see less pesticide use and lower risks. We also saw this in the calls from the conference on the future of Europe and indeed other European citizens initiatives. We anticipate that the recently updated EU rules for approving micro organisms for use in plant protection will facilitate more access to biological alternatives to chemical pesticides. We also need to acknowledge that farmers need workable alternatives to allow them continue to supply consumers with food. In addition, the revision of the EU Pollinators Initiative adopted in January and the upcoming revision of the BEE guidance document for pesticide risk assessment will boost protection for bees and wild pollinators.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mairead MCGUINNESS, Commissioner, Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, Recent analysis carried out by the JRC shows that biodiversity loss is a major threat to EU food security. It already affects our agriculture sector with potentially irreversible impacts in Europe and globally. We have lost so much nature already. But just protect what we have is no longer an option. We really have to step up efforts not only to preserve, but also to restore nature and to reverse biodiversity loss. This will help to improve essential ecosystem services like pollination and pest control.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mairead MCGUINNESS, Commissioner, Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, Honourable Members, You will decide on the Commission proposals, on the regulation, on nature restoration and the regulation on the sustainable use of plant protection products. I would ask you to keep this Citizens initiative in mind in your decisions. European citizens expect an ambitious outcome and substantial progress in the transition towards sustainability. This initiative also raises key questions as to how farmers can play a central role in the transition towards more environmentally sustainable agriculture and it calls for an increase in agroecology and organic practices.

SOUNDBITE (English), Mairead MCGUINNESS, Commissioner, Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, The new Common Agricultural Policy entered into force in January this year. It has significantly higher environmental ambition compared with the past. It provides a combination of obligations for farmers to be able to benefit from CAP support, and it supports more demanding practices, allowing reduced pesticides, the development of organic farming, the creation of new landscape features and other environmentally friendly agricultural practices. The new regulations, if ambitious and the new cap, if implemented correctly, will help the EU respect the commitments made at the Convention on Biological Diversity. COP15 Under the new Global Biodiversity

SOUNDBITE (English), Mairead MCGUINNESS, Commissioner, Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, Framework, we need to solve the nature crisis in this decade with efforts by everyone for nature and pollinators, for farmers and for all Europeans. Our farmers are custodians of the land and they are central to this effort. Their futures depend on us and we should listen to their concerns. The debate today will feed into our ongoing reflection. We will present our general conclusions, including the action we intend to take in our communication planned for early April. And I look forward now to an exchange of views. Thank you.