The EU is trying to prevent pollinator deaths, and MEPs harbour doubts about the Commission's proposal to break the deadlock over GMOs.

The News: Disappearing Bees - Authorising GMOs

In today's news: Stop  the disappearance of bees from Europe!

We hear MEPs' recommendations  for reversing the trend.

The Commission's latest proposal  received a cool welcome in the EP.

A third of our food is directly dependent  on their pollinating activities.

The economic contribution of bees  has been valued at €22 billion per year.

But human activities could be leading  to their disappearance from Europe.

The EU has heard the warning cries  of the beekeepers

This year, an extra 8 million euros  were set aside to help the sector.

But for MEPs,  the sum is still insufficient.

The 32 millions that we have is nothing  compared to the Community budget,

and you have to know  how to focus on the priorities.

And the priority is having a sufficient  number of beekeepers and beehives.

MEPs voted on a report asking for  the inclusion of bees in veterinary policy

Other wishes:  a label for European honeys

and further research into  pesticides and GMOs,

as beekeepers are sceptical  of the current studies.

The current studies are problematic  insofar as we know that many experts

and research programmes are funded by  the phytopharmaceutical industry,

The next step will be  the reform of the CAP.

and in the legislative package  that it'll present in summer 2011,

the Commission will consider this sector.

The EP will do that anyway, thanks to  the powers the Lisbon Treaty granted it,

In the meantime,  European beekeepers hope

that their colonies  will survive the winter.

Yes or no to GMOs?  The debate is stuck.

To break the deadlock,  Member States could have the last word

in authorising, or not, the cultivation  of GMOs on their territory.

But the Commission's idea doesn't  have the unanimous support of the EP.

If you hand back to Member States  the decision

to introduce bans  on socio-economic grounds,

and, secondly, to put in place  their own thresholds

that has serious implications for  the functioning of the Single Market.

With the Single Market in mind,  MEPs ask the Barroso Commission

to verify that the States' free choice  wouldn't entail problems of competition.

The question divides States  as much as it does MEPs.

Two states very vocal in their opposition  are France and Germany.

But several Member States  support the Commission:

the UK is for it, and Spain has started  to open up to the idea.

it'll still be the Commission  that authorises the GMOs,

But beyond food safety,  the consumers' priority,

What justifies, or not, the use of GMOs?

When it's said that a GMO is needed  to fight against such and such a disease,

are there alternatives  to directly using GMOs?

Some 15 GMO varieties are waiting for  an authorisation to enter the EU market,

Greenpeace recently collected more than  one million signatures against GMOs.