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Until the night of September 30th, there were still busy signatures in support of the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) "Saving Bees and Farmers" collected. The final numbers speak for themselves: 1.160.479 supportersinside have signed. In addition, there are thousands of paper signatures that are first counted. Helmut Burtscher-Schaden, environmental chemist at GLOBAL 2000 and one of the seven initiators of the EBI, is delighted: “For two years we have had supporters with over 200 organizations across the EUmobilized inside. Now we are facing a historic success! With their signature, more than a million European citizens are calling for a bee and climate-friendly agriculture that does not use chemical pesticides. The commission is now charged with dealing with it. "
The EBI “Save Bees and Farmers” calls for a reduction in the use of synthetic pesticides by 80 percent by 2030 and by 100 percent by 2035 in the EU; secondly, measures to restore biodiversity on agricultural land and thirdly, support for farmers in converting to agroecology. An ECI is accepted by the European Commission if it has more than one million validated signatures.
The EBI is also directed against the controversial pesticide glyphosate: Despite numerous political promises, it is still allowed in agriculture in Austria, for example. For the environmental protection organization Greenpeace, the government parties' legislative proposal for a partial ban on glyphosate is an environmental indictment. After months of struggling to find a compromise on glyphosate, the federal government wants to restrict the use of the probably carcinogenic plant poison only for private users in house and allotment gardens and in sensitive areas such as the green areas of schools or public parks. However, around 90 percent of the glyphosate used in Austria is used in agriculture and forestry and is not restricted under the new law.
And: Six years after glyphosate was classified as cancer by the WHO cancer research agency IARC, the EU authorities apparently want to extend the approval of glyphosate one more time. This although the glyphosate manufacturers have not submitted a new (and relieving) cancer study for the new approval process.
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