BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - At the urging of citizens, the EU Commission is putting pressure for more speed in the protection of bees. Against the backdrop of an EU-wide citizens' initiative, the EU authority called on the European Parliament and EU countries to swiftly and unconditionally adopt legislative proposals already on the table "that contribute to the protection and recovery of pollinator populations in Europe (...)," the Commission announced in Brussels on Wednesday.

The organizers of the citizens' initiative had collected more than one million signatures. That is the threshold that must be reached for the EU Commission to deal with such an initiative.

The Commission recognizes the importance of the initiative, the release said, "Especially as the interlocking crises of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss pose growing challenges to agriculture and food security in Europe." In the EU, one in three species of bees, butterflies and hoverflies is declining, it said. At the same time, 80 percent of crop and wild plant species depend on pollinators, he said. "Half of the EU's agricultural land is already facing a pollination deficit."

The initiative's concern is to phase out the use of synthetic pesticides, make agricultural production methods more environmentally friendly, and gear EU agricultural policy less toward industrial and conventional farming. The EU Commission referred to existing legislative proposals, for example, on the sustainable use of pesticides and the restoration of nature. EU countries and the Parliament still have to negotiate the proposals before they can come into force. The Commission did not announce any new proposals.

In addition to the minimum number of signatures in a given period, a successful European Citizens' Initiative requires a certain number in at least seven EU countries. Around half of the signatures were reportedly collected in Germany./red/DP/jha