site.btaBulgaria Joins Save Bees and Farmers European Citizens Initiative

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December 1 (BTA) - The Bulgarian coordinators for the European Citizens Initiative Save Bees and Farmers on Wednesday submitted to the Regional Development Ministry signatures collected in support of the ban on all pesticides which destroy bees and wild pollinators. By this Bulgaria joins the initiative.

Тhe civil registration service of the Regional Development Ministry will have to verify the signatures in the petition before it is sent to the European Parliament, Albena Simeonova, chair of the Bulgarian Organic Products Association, told BTA. The other participants in the initiative are Borislav Sandov of the Foundation for Environment and Agriculture and Petko Simeonov of the Organic Beekeeping Association.

Simeonova said that so far over a thousand signatures have been collected in writing. Also, there are signatures that have been collected online. Bulgaria should have collected 13,000 signatures, but the signatures are far fewer, totalling 4-5,000, said Simeonova. However, she said that the citizens initiative is still a success with the help of beekeeping organizations, an environmental association and of organic farmers. She explained that each country collects signatures depending on the size of its population.

Europe wide the necessary 1.2 million signatures have been collected in defence of bees and small farmers, and half have been collected in Germany.

The signatures collected in around 10 European countries should be submitted to the European Parliament by the end of the year so that debates and a vote are scheduled. If the national authorities in the European countries confirm the validity of a minimum 1 million sgnatures, the initiative will be a success and will compel the European Commission and the European Parliament to include the demands on the agenda.

In a statement earlier the organizers of the campaign said that they don't approve of proposals tabled by the Agriculture Ministry in relation to beekeeping, which they say are extremely concerning and are a prerequisite for finishing off Bulgarian beekeepers.