A new citizens’ initiative registered by the EU Commission that starts later this month aims to ensure a bee friendly agriculture for a healthy environment.
The organisers of this initiative call on the Commission to ‘propose legal acts to phase out synthetic pesticides by 2035, to restore biodiversity, and to support farmers in the transition‘.
More specifically, the organisers want to ‘phase out synthetic pesticides in EU agriculture by 80% by 2030, starting with the most hazardous, to become free of synthetic by 2035; restore natural ecosystems in agricultural areas so that farming becomes a vector of biodiversity recovery; reform agriculture by prioritising small scale, diverse and sustainable farming, supporting a rapid increase in agro-ecological and organic practice, and enabling independent farmer-based training and research into pesticide- and GMO-free farming.’
Under the EU Treaties, the European Commission can take legal action in the area of the common agricultural policy and the internal market as well as measures in the veterinary and phytosanitary fields.
The Commission said it considers the initiative legally admissible and has decided to register it. The registration of this initiative will take place on 30 September 2019, starting a 1-year process of collection of signatures of support by its organisers.
