Petition is addressed to: Petitionsausschuss des Europäischen Parlaments

The petitioner, who owns a farm specialising in the breeding and exporting queen bees, claims to have sustained enormous financial losses due to the measures recently adopted by the Region of Sicily and the Commission. On 28 June 2019, the Region of Sicily issued decree 1343 which establishes a 5 km radius protection zone in the area between the municipalities of Lentini, Carlentini and Catania and effectively prohibits the export of queen bees outside the region. The petitioner also claims that the Commission has reincluded Sicily in the protection zone provided for by Commission Implementing Decision 2014/909/EU concerning certain protective measures with regard to confirmed occurrences of the small hive beetle in Italy. According to the petitioner, the measures taken by the Region of Sicily and the Commission are clearly incompatible with the provisions of Implementing Decision 2017/2174/EU, which provides for the possibility of exporting queen bees providing certain requirements are met.