EU threatens to consider more bee deaths normal due to pesticides

The Austrian beekeeping associations and environmental organizations have called on their Agriculture Minister Elisabeth Köstinger to vote against the relaxation of the Bee Directive in Brussels.

In doing so, Austria would join the opposition to the European Commission's proposal to approve the use of a number of pesticides that are harmful to bees.

For years, the agriculture ministers of the EU countries have been divided over a 'bee directive' that determines which chemical crop protection agents may be used in agriculture. The decision to broaden the criteria will be taken behind closed doors on Thursday during a closed meeting in Brussels.

If the European Commission proposal obtains a majority among the EU countries, a higher bee mortality rate will be accepted in the future than is currently the case. The now proposed relaxation is seen as a concession to those EU countries that have opposed the "EFSA bee guide" since 2013, which has put a stop to the use of too many crop protectors.

“Given the decline in biodiversity, this Commission proposal is scandalous,” explained bees' association director Christian Boigenzahn to the Austrian press.

Helmut Burtscher-Schaden, initiator of the European citizens' initiative “Save bees and farmers” added: “The proposal was developed behind closed doors, without the involvement of the EFSA committees and without the participation of independent scientists. It bears the signature of the pesticide industry ”.

Although the 2013 EFSA Bee Directive considers honeybee loss of up to 7% “natural” and therefore permissible, under the new regime losses of up to 20% can be considered natural. According to critics, this approach lacks any scientific basis. Wild bees, which are usually much more sensitive than honey bees, and other insects are not taken into account at all for the time being.

Scientists have already sounded the alarm about bee deaths. Research by Australian and Chinese scientists, who studied 73 insect studies from the past 30 years, shows that 40 percent of the world's insects are threatened with extinction due to habitat loss and pesticide use.

That is why the Bee Guidance was drawn up in 2013. It contains test methods to determine the risks of pesticides for bees. The Netherlands finds the current tests too strict and wants a large number of tests