Activities of Norbert ERDŐS related to 2017/2115(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
Prospects and challenges for the EU apiculture sector (debate) HU
Prospects and challenges for the EU apiculture sector (debate) HU
Reports (1)
REPORT on prospects and challenges for the EU apiculture sector PDF (401 KB) DOC (96 KB)
Amendments (46)
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 18 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas Europe is home to approximately 10% of global bee diversity, there is insufficient knowledge and data, which may hinder conservation efforts to protect bee species
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 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas the impact of climate change means that some migratory bird species (such as species from the Meropidae family) have recently been remaining permanently in Europe, where they are having a negative impact on bee communities;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)
Recital H a (new)
Ha. whereas British researchers have recently come to the scientific conclusion that local and regional breeds of bees better survive in a given area than breeds of bees settled from elsewhere;
Amendment 69 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H b (new)
Recital H b (new)
Amendment 70 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital H c (new)
Recital H c (new)
Hc. whereas wild bees, which also play an important role in pollination and in the preservation of the ecological balance, are in serious danger, so EU legislators need to act to protect wild bees;
Amendment 83 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas in many cases the competent EU agencies, such as the European Food Safety Authority, do not have the results of the expected number of field tests related to certain challenged pesticide active substances;
Amendment 88 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I b (new)
Recital I b (new)
Ib. whereas, in order to stop and then reduce the mortality of bees, it is necessary to obtain clear results as soon as possible, in particular by field tests, of all pesticide active substances which endanger the health of bees;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)
Recital K a (new)
Ka. whereas pronounced temperature variations in spring, as well as more frequent droughts caused by recent climate change, have led to the degradation of bee pastures or even their total disappearance;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
P. whereas, even 70 % of honey produced by EU beekeepers pursuing their activities in line with current legislation reaches the European consumer as EU honey while consumers are aware that no more than one third of the honey they use is produced in the EU;
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 140 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital R a (new)
Recital R a (new)
Ra. Whereas, according to professionals in the EU and in other honey-producing countries in the World it is impossible for any region, including China, to double honey production in 10 years, as neither this area can be free from all negative effects impacting the World such as climate change, the effects of intensive agriculture on pollinators, the impacts of globally widespread bee parasites on bee-health or the adverse changes on bee pastures;
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 153 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Y a (new)
Recital Y a (new)
Ya. whereas the labelling “blend of EU and non-EU honeys” is so informative to consumers as if we were to say “blend of honeys not from the Mars”, so it is not at all;
Amendment 155 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Z a (new)
Recital Z a (new)
Za. whereas many large honey producer countries such as the USA, Canada, Argentina or Mexico have much stricter requirements on honey labelling than the EU's simplified rules, so they guarantee much better the necessary information of consumers than the EU;
Amendment 157 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Z b (new)
Recital Z b (new)
Zb. whereas current rules do not deal with fraudulent practices on processed products such as biscuits, corn flakes, confectionary etc. if the word „honey” is misleading consumers on the real content of the given product; whereas the use of the word „honey” on their label should be permitted only if at least 50 % of the sugar-content of the product originates from honey;
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 175 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital AF a (new)
Recital AF a (new)
AFa. whereas large quantities of honey are imported into the EU and it cause serious disturbances and even crisis in the EU honey market in many times; whereas the apiculture sector deserves to be treated as a priority in the EU during the negotiations of free trade agreements and honey and other bee products should be declared as “sensitive products”;
Amendment 196 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Understands that beehoney bees, alongside wild bees and other pollinators perform a basic agricultural service by pollinating crops, without which European agriculture and in particular plant cultivation would not exist in any form;
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 214 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Pcalls on the Commission and the Member States that the EU apiculture sector needs for an appropriate EU subsidy corresponding to the current bee stock; therefore, proposes a 47.8% increase in 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 229 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Ccalls on the Commission to include a new direct support scheme for beekeepers based on colony numberfunctioning in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as pursuing their activities in the overseas territories and islands, based on bee families in its proposals for the cCommon aAgricultural pPolicy post-2020;
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 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 320 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Proposes that the Commission should launch a call for tender with an appropriate incentive grant on developing a new special medicine for bees;
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 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 339 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. calls on the Commission and the Council to take the necessary steps as soon as possible in order to preserve the currently declining wild bee stock in the EU;
Amendment 349 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls on the Commission to immediately initiate the ban on those pesticide active substances, including neonicotinoids, which have been scientifically proved - based on the findings of laboratory analyses and mainly field tests - by the European Food Safety Authority to be dangerous on bee health;
Amendment 353 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls for a review of the protected status of migratory bird species which cause damage to bee communities and which remain in Europe at times when they should not naturally be present on the continent;
Amendment 369 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. Calls on the Member States to clearly stand by (in the appropriate process) the prohibition of the use of those pesticide active substances which have been proved being dangerous on bee health;
Amendment 370 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)
Paragraph 14 b (new)
14b. In the case where a competent EU authority, such as the European Food Safety Authority, has confirmed products to be harmful to bees, such products should be labelled as "harmful to bees";
Amendment 379 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 c (new)
Paragraph 14 c (new)
14c. In accordance with the EU precautionary principle asks the Commission to suspend the authorization of those pesticide active substances which, according to suspicion based on field tests, endangers bee health, until the publication of the EFSA's detailed impact assessment;
Amendment 403 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)
Paragraph 16 a (new)
16 a. invites the Commission to include private internationally recognized laboratories, such as the French EUROFINS or the German QSI to this activity, in order to carry out the most sophisticated examinations;
Amendment 423 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24 a (new)
Paragraph 24 a (new)
24 a. considers that in the light of large Chinese honey import accelerated in the last 15 years, the buying-in price of honey under real production costs in the EU and the bad quality of “manufactured” and not produced imported honey makes it clear for the Commission that it is time to start investigating the practice by some Chinese exporters to possibly initiate an anti-dumping proceeding;
Amendment 438 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27 a. asks for the Commission to initiate the supplement to the Honey Directive, according to the use of the word "honey" or the terms "containing honey" or "made with honey" in the designation of processed products, or in anygraphic or non-graphic element indicating that the product contains honey, may be used only if at least 50 % of the sugar-content of the product originates from honey;
Amendment 447 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Acknowledges and welcomes the European Honey Breakfast initiative and calls on the Member States to incorporate the initiative into their basic education systems; notes that honey is high in calories and can be used to replace refined sugar;
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 473 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 a (new)
Paragraph 32 a (new)
32 a. encourages the Member States to boost local and regional sales of honey, in particular bio-honey, with all the means at their disposal, in particular by providing intensive support for short supply chains through their rural development programmes;
Amendment 476 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 b (new)
Paragraph 32 b (new)
32 b. proposes to the Member States to encourage, by all means at their disposal, the involvement of beekeeping products such as pollen, propolis or royal jelly in the pharmaceutical industry;