The European Commission has welcomed the European citizens' initiative "Let's save bees and farmers! Towards bee-friendly agriculture for a healthy environment", recognizing it as a tool to combat the loss of biodiversity. In the European Union, the Commission recalls in a note, one in three species of bees, butterflies and hoverflies is in decline, while 80% of cultivated species or wild flowering species depend on animal pollination.Half of agricultural land in the EU is therefore already exposed to the risk of a pollination deficit.

In this context, the Commission calls on the European Parliament and the Council to reach "swift and ambitious agreements" on the legislative proposals already submitted. The proposed regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides outlines an ambitious path to reduce the risk and use of chemical pesticides in the EU, including in agriculture.

In the global biodiversity framework agreed in December 2022 in Montréal, the EU and its Member States committed to halve the overall risk posed by pesticides by 2030. "The proposal for a Nature Restoration Law will also help to reverse the decline of pollinator populations by 2030 and bring nature back to agricultural land, including through specific targets for the restoration of agricultural ecosystems", reads the note from the Commission. “Restoration measures should cover at least 20% of the EU's land and sea areas by 2030, and ultimately all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. Together, these proposals have the potential to be a game changer for pollinator conservation at EU level".

"Rather than proposing new legislative acts, the priority is to ensure that the proposals currently being negotiated by the co-legislators are adopted and then implemented in a timely manner, each of which hold high relevance in the context of this ECI, together with an effective implementation of the CAP. Over one million statements in support of this citizens' initiative are a clear signal and encouragement that the high level of ambition of the Commission proposals should be maintained".

"This initiative underlines that, now more than ever, we must support our farmers to secure food and protect nature", said Janusz Wojciechowski , Commissioner for Agriculture. Opinions in favor of the proposal from European citizens also come from the Vice-President of the Commission, Frans Timmermans , from the Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová , from the Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius, from the Commissioner for Health and food safety Stella Kyriakides.