Today the Commission is responding to the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “Save the bees and the farmers! Let’s move towards bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment.”

The Commission welcomes the initiative and recognizes the importance of the CAP, especially given that the interconnected crises of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss are intensifying challenges for Europe’s agriculture and food security. In the EU one in three bee, butterfly and hornet species are declining, while 80% of crop and wild flowering plant species depend on animal pollination. Half of the agricultural land in the EU is already at risk of pollination deficit. The threat to the existence of pollinators is a threat to food security and life on the planet.

The success of the citizens’ initiative is a clear indication of broad public support for action on pollinators, biodiversity and sustainable agriculture. In this context, the Commission calls on the European Parliament and the Council to quickly reach ambitious agreements on the legislative proposals already submitted, which will contribute to the protection and recovery of pollinators in Europe and transform citizens’ ambition into legislation.

Integrated action for the sustainability of food systems

The Commission’s European Green Deal actions to ensure the sustainability of food systems include in particular: the EU Farm to Fork Strategy and the Biodiversity Strategy, the Nature Restoration Legislation, the Rational pesticide use, the revised EU Pollinator Initiative, the ‘New Deal for Pollinators’ and the new EU Common Agricultural Policy for 2023-2027. Overall, the Commission’s proposals and initiatives are a comprehensive response to the demands made in the EP.

The proposal for a regulation on the rational use of pesticides sets an ambitious path to reduce the risk and use of chemical pesticides in the EU, including in agriculture. The Commission has proposed to reduce the risk and use of chemical pesticides in EU agriculture by 50% by 2030. Within set parameters to ensure this overall reduction is achieved at EU level, Member States will set national reduction targets. The new measures will further ensure that all farmers and other professional users of pesticides apply integrated pest management, in which alternative environmentally friendly methods of pest prevention and control are first considered, before using chemical pesticides as a last resort. In the global biodiversity framework, agreed in December 2022 in Montreal, the EU and its member states also pledged to halve the overall risk posed by pesticides by 2030.

The nature restoration legislation proposal will also help reverse the decline of pollinator populations by 2030 and restore nature to farmland, including through specific targets for the restoration of agricultural ecosystems. The nature restoration legislative proposal combines a general restoration objective for the long-term restoration of nature in the EU’s terrestrial and marine areas with binding restoration targets for specific habitats and species. These measures should cover at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030 and ultimately all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.

Together, these proposals have the potential to be game-changing for pollinator conservation at EU level.

Next steps

Rather than proposing new legislation, the priority is to ensure that the proposals currently under negotiation by the co-legislators — each of which is of great importance in the context of this CAP — are adopted and then implemented in a timely manner, combined with effective implementation of the CAP. Over one million statements in favor of this citizens’ initiative are a clear signal and encouragement to maintain the high level of ambition of the Commission’s proposals.

Athena Papakosta