48 Amendments of Michela GIUFFRIDA related to 2017/2115(INI)
Amendment 4 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas the beekeeping sector is an integral part of European agriculture, providing over 500 000 EU citizens with their main income or additional earnings; whereas beekeeping is practiced also as a hobby or for production of honey for own consumption;
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas increased mortality among honeybees and wild pollinators in Europe is having a profound negative impact on agriculture, food production and security, biodiversity, environmental sustainability and ecosystems;
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas the sector develops and maintains additional activities such as production of materials for example wooden frames, beehives and others, as well as technique, which can also contribute to the development of the local and regional economies;
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Ab. whereas the apitourism generates greater interest and opportunities among consumers in recent years, which can be further popularised to more stakeholders;
Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A c (new)
Recital A c (new)
Ac. whereas pollination is the primary purpose of the bees, while production of honey, honey wax and other products is a secondary product from the activities of the bees; whereas the agriculture in the EU can be characterised as monocultural or with a limited plant variety;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A d (new)
Recital A d (new)
Ad. whereas good theoretical knowledge combined with a practical training is a prerequisite for better understanding and dealing with the challenges ahead of the bee families;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)
Recital B a (new)
Ba. whereas per nature the beekeeping is often practiced in the open and the beehives are thus exposed to additional external factors such as attacks from wild animals;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B b (new)
Recital B b (new)
Bb. whereas the urban beekeeping gathers popularity in recent years, which shows sustainability, interest and has the potential of increasing awareness among a broader circle of citizens, including children, about the nature and benefits from beekeeping;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas in 2004 the Commission guaranteed EUR 32 million to national beekeeping programmes for the sole benefit of beekeeping, and whereas this had been increased to 36 million by 2006 (representing 3 thousandths of the CAP budget); whereas for the period 2017-2019 EUR 108 million are foreseen for support of the national programmes for the apiculture sector from the EU budget;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the national programmes for the apiculture sector have a positive effect, but there are some problems in their national application and they do not always enjoy the full confidence of the sector;
Amendment 50 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas in some Member States the tax laws differentiate between professional and amateur beekeepers, with the latter benefiting from tax relief, although this makes no sense professionallyvarying rules concerning tax relief;
Amendment 74 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas beekeepers, agricultural producers and environmentalists also expect there to bin shortest terms to achieve a clear scientific consensus on all substances, particularly those for plant-protection, such as the neonicotinoids, and other factors which are a danger to bees’ health;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)
Recital I a (new)
Ia. whereas climate change and spring frosts followed by heat and drought have a negative impact on honey production;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I b (new)
Recital I b (new)
Ib. whereas fires in several EU Member States have led to the deaths of millions of bees;
Amendment 99 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital K
Recital K
K. whereas this statistical increase results in part from the steady rise in Member State numbers and in part from the particular situation of the sector, since each Member State furnishes data for the period with the highest number of bee colonies in a given year;
Amendment 103 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas beekeepers always produce less honey once the winter is over, because of autumn and winter losses which can be as much as 50% in some Member States; whereas in some regions the mortality rate of the winter has surpassed 50%, reaching to 100% in some cases with various reasons behind this;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
N. whereas the two-fold increase in the amount of honey produced and exported in some countries over the past 15 years whilst the EU is barely 560% self-sufficient in honey – a figure which is not increasing – cannot be explained;
Amendment 122 #
O. whereas the EU imports 25% of the honey it uses (60% of its annual imports) each year from these countries, which is why Europe’s beekeepers are in dire straits; whereas the EU imports highest quantities of honey from People's republic of China, Ukraine, Argentina and Mexico;
Amendment 129 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital P
Recital P
P. whereas consumersa big part of the consumers in the EU are unaware that no more than one third of the honey they use is produced in the EU;
Amendment 139 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital R
Recital R
R. whereas approximately 100 000 tonnes of imported honey arrives in the EU from China everyduring the last few years – double the amount in 2002 – even though the number of bee colonies has declined in other parts of the world;
Amendment 141 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital S a (new)
Recital S a (new)
Sa. whereas not all member states have laboratories, which can conduct full honey analyses, which causes a challenge for the sector in trying to use the opportunities for marketing the products on the single European market;
Amendment 154 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Z
Recital Z
Z. whereas many honey packagers and traders now abuse this way of indicating origin in order to conceal the real country of origin, as well as the proportion of honey from the different countries, as purchasers are becoming more knowledgeable and are distrustful of foodstuffs from certain countries;
Amendment 163 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital AC
Recital AC
AC. whereas annual honey consumption varies hugely across the Member States: whilst Member States in Western Europe have an average consumption of 2.5-2.7 kg per person, the figure for Hungary, for example, is just 0.7 kgthe countries from the 2004, 2007 and 2013 enlargements are as low as 0.7 kg in some cases;
Amendment 164 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital AC a (new)
Recital AC a (new)
ACa. whereas the European quality schemes and particularly the GI schemes have a great importance for the preservation and creation of jobs; whereas more than 30 GIs for honey have been registered so far; whereas "European" and "made in Europe" is often associated with products with high value;
Amendment 172 #
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 and they are looked for from the consumers as a part of a more natural way of life;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital AF a (new)
Recital AF a (new)
AFa. whereas timely and precise data collection is important for faster and more accurate planning; whereas the new technologies and digitalisation can have a crucial role in cutting costs and times; whereas some technologies can have hidden effects on the bees via the use of electromagnetic waves among others;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Understandlines that bees perform a basic agricultural service by pollinating crops, without which European agriculture and in particular plant cultivation would not exist in any form;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Understandlines that beekeeping makes a fundamental contribution to maintaining the ecological balance and biological diversity, so that the sector must be at the heart of the common agricultural policy;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Understandlines that financing of beekeeping must be considerably increased in future agricultural policy;
Amendment 220 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Calls on the Commission to simplify the rules governing support for beekeeping;
Amendment 227 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Calls on the Commission to include a new direct support scheme for beekeepers, while developing, asserting and incorporating a fair payment for ecological services, such as pollination, which is done by all bees of every registered bee family based on colony numbers in its proposals for the common agricultural policy post-2020;
Amendment 241 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Calls on the Commission to establish a specific support scheme for beekeepers that are affected by invasive alien species or climatic agents;
Amendment 249 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Urges the European Commission and the member states to launch a network of institutes and other scientific and academic establishments, which deal with bees, their lives and products of activities for faster, smoother and more effective exchange of information on bee- related topics;
Amendment 263 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Considers that beekeepers should be granted tax relief in every Member State in view of the agricultural and environmental significance of their work; urges the member states to cut the unnecessary red-tape, which will save time, efforts and financial resources from the beekeepers;
Amendment 268 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. calls on the beekeepers for an active dialogue with the competent authorities for a more effective application of the national programmes for the apiculture programmes with the aim of improving them and correcting any occurring problems;
Amendment 269 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Amendment 278 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. underlines the advantages of well prepared and informed beekeepers and encourages the member states to consider a compulsory prerequisite and not an additional advantage for taking part in the national programmes for the apiculture sector;
Amendment 341 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14
Paragraph 14
14. Calls on the European Food Safety Authority to carry out research (laboratory analyses and field experiments) in shortest terms and preferably before the end of 2018, according to a clearly-determined schedule and together with the other EU agencies concerned, into all substances, particularly those, which are used in the plant-protection, such as neonicotinoids, and other factors which endanger bee health;
Amendment 407 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Suggests making honey packaging plants which also process imported honey subject to EU food safety monitoring; this might be achieved by amending Regulation (EC) No 853/2004;
Amendment 420 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
Amendment 434 #
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 proportions used in the final product with percentage numbers for the proportion of honey from every country;
Amendment 446 #
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, placing the emphasis on locally made products and on rediscovering long- established production traditions;
Amendment 462 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Calls on the Commission to draw up a report on the amount of honey consumed and consumption patterns in all member states of the EU;
Amendment 463 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)
Paragraph 31 a (new)
31a. Calls on the Commission to support specific measures to promote the consumption of honey, not least as a substitute for other sweeteners, bearing in mind its health-giving properties;
Amendment 471 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Calls on the Commission to allocate a specific sum from the EU’s promotional budget to advertising EU honey production in the internal market;
Amendment 472 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 a (new)
Paragraph 32 a (new)
32 a. calls on the European Commission to include honey wax as a product, which can be covered by Regulation 1151/2012 because of the growing interest from the consumers and producers, as well as the long traditions in some member states in its production;
Amendment 478 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33
Paragraph 33
33. Asks the Commission to ensure that the EU declares honey and other bee products to be ‘sensitive products’ in free trade agreement negotiations and that they are excluded from the coverage of these agreements;
Amendment 480 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 33 a (new)
Paragraph 33 a (new)
33 a. calls on the European commission to consider introduction of the brand "Honey from Europe" for honey, which is produced by 100% honey collected in the member states of the European Union;