The pledge was the main outcome of a major scientific meeting held in Brussels yesterday entitled “Towards a European Bee Partnership” that was attended by more than 120 delegates from scientific organisations, EU bodies, researchers, beekeeper and farmers’ groups, and NGOs.

Willingness to collaborate

Simon More, who chairs EFSA’s MUST-B working group on risks to bees, said: “One clear theme from today’s meeting is that there is a willingness to collaborate on the part of all the groups represented here.

“We have a clear way forward: EFSA will facilitate the establishment of a group to make the European Bee Partnership happen. But this is just the beginning. Many more discussions will be needed to make this partnership as broad and representative as possible.”

He added: “This has to be a partnership of stakeholders for stakeholders, a partnership of the willing founded on mutual trust. That is the only way it can be successful.”

Robust assessment of bee health

The main focus of the meeting, held as part of the European Parliament’s annual Week of Bees and Pollination, was on how to improve the collection and sharing of data on bees.

Mariya Gabriel MEP, Chair of the European Parliament’s Working Group on Apiculture and Bee Health, said in an opening statement: “The spirit of Bee Week has always been to call for greater collaboration among all sectors and levels. The presence of so many stakeholders and experts today is heartening; your efforts and valuable contributions will be decisive in making this event a success.

“However, our goal must extend beyond Bee Week. It is essential that beekeepers, scientists, NGOs, manufacturers, farmers, veterinarians and the EU institutions continue, in the long term, to pool their efforts to achieve better data sharing and management, strengthen our collaboration and enable a more robust assessment of bee health in the EU.”

She added that EFSA’s work in the area of bee health and its multi-disciplinary expertise would be of great value in steering such a project.