EU: Environment Committee in favour of neonicotinoid ban

In a vote taken last Thursday the Environment Committee of the European Parliament rejected with a big majority a resolution of the Conservatives and populists not to ban the three neonicotinoids that are regarded as particularly dangerous to bees.

1:0 for the bees was the reaction of Martin Häusling, the Green/EFA Party's spokesperson for agricultural and environmental policy in the European Parliament. In his statement he said the vote showed that a majority of MEPs have just as serious doubts about the use of neonicotinoids that threaten bees as those expressed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

Conservatives and reformers (critics of the EU and populists) had attempted to accuse the Commission of being unscientific and of exceeding its area of responsibility if it came to a ban.

Green politician Häusling said the ban was the right action to take and an important step in the right direction, even though it didn't go far enough. From the point of view of many MEPs a total ban of the whole group of active agents in these highly dangerous systemic nerve toxins would have been necessary to put a stop to the massive loss of bees and biodiversity. They want to see a ban both in the open air and in greenhouses.

Häusling said the partial ban that has been in place since 2013 has so far scarcely made any impact because member states keep applying for exemption from the rules and special permission has been granted by the Commission. Häusling says it is incumbent on Europe and all EU member states to implement effective measures to prevent the death of our most important pollinators.