Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-11-23-Speech-2-650"
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"en.20101123.43.2-650"2
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"Madam President, I bow to the expertise of others in this area, particularly Geoffrey Van Orden’s comments. I would support what he says because this is an area where there are few experts, but many opinions.
I think it is acceptable to raise the opinion on GM, but there are no GM crops grown in Ireland – and I think the same is true of the UK – yet we have problems with bee populations, so I think we need to be very careful about comments we make in relation to the causes of the problem. We have a problem and we do not know the reason for it. I support the call for research but with some caution. We throw money at research but let us look for better quality research – and coordinated research across Member States – to get the results that beekeepers want and absolutely need.
We need to look at the statistics, because I gather that if Member States count bees at all, they count them in very different ways. We need to look at what we are comparing across the European Union.
I will just make a suggestion in relation to unkept bees – the wild bees and the bumble bees as referred to by another colleague. I would support measures in our reformed common agricultural policy around a sustainable agriculture with habitats that support wild bee populations. I have put my money where my mouth is on this, and have allocated a few hectares of land to see what would happen. It does work, but if you are going to ask farmers who farm for a living to do this, you need to support it. I think the European Union needs to look at that, because we do have problems in both beekeeping and the wild bee population. We do need to look at enhancing biodiversity, so you would have my support on that, Commissioner."@en1
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