Referendum "Biodiversity & Natural Beauty in Bavaria"

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A poster in Mengkofen calls for the signature in the town hall

The popular initiative "Biodiversity & natural beauty in Bavaria" , made famous under the motto Save the bees , was a popular initiative that took place in early 2019 in the Free State of Bavaria . The aim was to change the Bavarian Nature Conservation Act to ensure the development of biodiversity in flora and fauna over the long term and to maintain and improve the existing habitats . It was initiated by the ÖDP , later it was also supported by the Bund Naturschutz in Bayern, Landesbund für Vogelschutz und der Grünen and numerous non-profit associations. The state parliament accepted the referendum, so that there was no referendum. The referendum was thus successful. Some far-reaching changes to the Bavarian Nature Conservation Act already came into force on August 1, 2019 by means of a state parliament resolution.

object

The subject of the referendum was a draft to amend the Bavarian Nature Conservation Act.

According to the applicants, the aim of the draft law was "to counteract the loss of species , in particular the decline in bees and butterflies [sic!]." The draft law provided for:

Procedure and course

Poster for the referendum in front of the Neu-Ulm town hall

The referendum “Biodiversity & Natural Beauty in Bavaria” was based on Art. 63 ff. Of the Bavarian State Election Act (LWG).

Request

Almost 94,700 citizens entitled to vote signed the application for approval of the referendum. The legally prescribed number of at least 25,000 votes was thus significantly exceeded.

The Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior and for Integration therefore approved the application for approval of October 5, 2018 with an announcement of November 13, 2018. The district offices and municipalities received information on the implementation of the referendum, dated November 19, 2018.

registration

At least 10% of those entitled to vote - around 950,000 people - had to register with the local administrations within 14 days if they wanted to support the referendum. The registration period lasted from Thursday, January 31st up to and including Wednesday, February 13th, 2019. All those who would have been eligible to vote on the day of registration if a Bavarian state election had taken place on that day were entitled to vote.

Result

Weiden i.d.OPf.: 14,3 % Straubing: 13,0 % Würzburg: 20,9 % Schwabach: 22,6 % Schweinfurt: 13,8 % Regensburg: 18,1 % Rosenheim: 16,9 % Nürnberg: 19,6 % Nürnberg: 19,6 % Passau: 16,8 % Landshut: 19,9 % Memmingen: 17,3 % Kaufbeuren: 15,9 % Kempten (Allgäu): 17,0 % Ingolstadt: 14,7 % Fürth: 19,4 % Hof: 10,5 % Erlangen: 24,9 % Coburg: 17,7 % Bayreuth: 19,4 % Bamberg: 21,1 % Augsburg: 20,6 % München: 20,4 % Aschaffenburg: 15,8 % Amberg: 14,6 % Ansbach: 19,4 % Landkreis Würzburg: 20,5 % Landkreis Wunsiedel i.Fichtelgebirge: 15,8 % Landkreis Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen: 17,5 % Landkreis Weilheim-Schongau: 23,2 % Landkreis Unterallgäu: 18,3 % Landkreis Traunstein: 17,7 % Landkreis Tirschenreuth: 16,3 % Landkreis Straubing-Bogen: 12,7 % Landkreis Starnberg: 27,6 % Landkreis Schweinfurt: 18,1 % Landkreis Schwandorf: 13,1 % Landkreis Rottal-Inn: 12,9 % Landkreis Roth: 20,6 % Landkreis Rosenheim: 19,1 % Landkreis Rhön-Grabfeld: 16,2 % Landkreis Regensburg: 15,8 % Landkreis Pfaffenhofen a,d.Ilm: 15,2 % Landkreis Regen: 11,9 % Landkreis Passau: 13,3 % Landkreis Ostallgäu: 17,0 % Landkreis Oberallgäu: 17,8 % Landkreis Nürnberger Land: 23,0 % Landkreis Neu-Ulm: 12,5 % Landkreis Neustadt a.d.Waldnaab: 14,2 % Landkreis Neustadt a.d.Aisch-Bad Windsheim: 16,5 % Landkreis Neumarkt i.d.OPf.: 17,9 % Landkreis Neuburg-Schrobenhausen: 13,6 % Landkreis München: 26,5 % Landkreis Mühldorf a.Inn: 16,7 % Landkreis Miltenberg: 19,1 % Landkreis Miesbach: 17,9 % Landkreis Main-Spessart: 14,6 % Landkreis Lindau (Bodensee): 16,1 % Landkreis Lichtenfels: 17,0 % Landkreis Landshut: 15,8 % Landkreis Landsberg am Lech: 24,7 % Landkreis Kulmbach: 15,2 % Landkreis Kronach: 13,5 % Landkreis Kitzingen: 16,3 % Landkreis Kelheim: 14,8 % Landkreis Hof: 13,8 % Landkreis Haßberge: 15,6 % Landkreis Günzburg: 15,1 % Landkreis Garmisch-Partenkirchen: 19,3 % Landkreis Fürth: 25,3 % Landkreis Fürstenfeldbruck: 25,5 % Landkreis Freyung-Grafenau: 11,4 % Landkreis Freising: 18,4 % Landkreis Forchheim: 18,8 % Landkreis Erlangen-Höchstadt: 22,3 % Landkreis Erding: 17,3 % Landkreis Eichstätt: 15,9 % Landkreis Ebersberg: 22,7 % Landkreis Donau-Ries: 16,6 % Landkreis Dingolfing-Landau: 14,6 % Landkreis Dillingen a.d.Donau: 15,7 % Landkreis Deggendorf: 11,7 % Landkreis Dachau: 22,9 % Landkreis Coburg: 16,6 % Landkreis Coburg: 16,6 % Landkreis Berchtesgadener Land: 15,7 % Landkreis Bayreuth: 16,8 % Landkreis Bamberg: 17,1 % Landkreis Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen: 18,1 % Landkreis Bad Kissingen: 15,7 % Landkreis Augsburg: 22,0 % Landkreis Aschaffenburg: 19,0 % Landkreis Ansbach: 18,8 % Landkreis Amberg-Sulzbach: 15,8 % Landkreis Altötting: 18,6 % Landkreis Aichach-Friedberg: 20,8 %map
Support for the popular initiative for biodiversity by district

Final result: 1.741 million out of 9.493 million eligible citizens have validly registered, that is 18.3%. It is the most successful referendum in Bavaria to date.

Position of the state government

The Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder had already invited to a "round table" from February 20, 2019 before the end of the registration period. An alternative draft law should be drawn up together with representatives from both sides. Meetings of politicians, farmers' representatives and popular initiative initiators took place under the mediation of the former state parliament president Alois Glück (CSU).

Söder announced at the beginning of April 2019 that the state government would take over the draft law one-to-one.

Treatment in the state parliament

After the final result was announced on March 14, 2019, the Bavarian State Parliament had to decide between the following options within four weeks:

  • Accept the bill of the referendum unchanged.
  • Reject the referendum and carry out a referendum on the draft law within three months . The voters would have decided on the acceptance or rejection of the bill. In addition, the state parliament could have submitted its own draft law as an alternative. In this case, the voters would have decided which proposal they prefer.
  • Contest the legal validity of the referendum. Such a decision could have been examined by the Bavarian Constitutional Court .

Although the state government had rejected the referendum in advance, after a change of opinion in view of the high level of citizen participation, in its statement it recommended that the state parliament accept the bill unchanged. The first reading of the draft law in the Bavarian State Parliament took place on May 8, 2019. On July 17, 2019, he passed the law with 167 votes in favor, 25 against and five abstentions. The law came into force on August 1, 2019. At the same time, a so-called reconciliation law was passed in the state parliament, which regulates financial compensation for farmers and defines the goal of achieving climate-neutral administration in Bavaria by 2030.

Porters and supporters

The referendum was initiated in May 2018 by the Ecological Democratic Party of Bavaria (ÖDP) and was supported by 50 organizations at that time. In the early phase in summer 2018, the State Association for Bird Protection and the Federal Nature Conservation Association distanced themselves from the referendum because, from their point of view, it would only have an impact at the state level, but the decisions that are important for species protection would be made at the federal or European level.

After other organizations joined the initiative , the bearers of the referendum were the ÖDP Bayern , the State Association for Bird Protection in Bavaria and Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen Bayern . Supporters were the Gregor Louisoder Umweltstiftung , Protect the Planet , Bund Naturschutz in Bayern , the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Bäuerliche Landwirtschaft (AbL) Bayern, the regional association of Bavarian beekeepers , the regional association for organic farming in Bavaria and the citizens' initiative Omnibus for direct democracy . In addition, another 181 organizations came as allies.

criticism

Criticism of the referendum came in particular from the Bavarian Farmers' Association , the Free Voters of Bavaria and the Bavarian Hunting Association . When the draft law is implemented, there will be restrictions on agricultural operations and the elimination of funding opportunities . It was particularly pointed out that it is already difficult for milk producers to convert to organic production because most dairies would not accept any other organic farms as suppliers due to insufficient demand.

The supporters of the popular initiative, on the other hand, stated that the draft law almost exclusively formulated targets for the Free State of Bavaria. The implementation is with a few exceptions, z. B. the waterfront strips, voluntary for the individual farmer. The Free State could therefore be forced to significantly expand the support for ecologically exemplary farmers.

Problems in execution

In the attempt to implement the new law, the shortcomings of the new rules, knitted with a hot needle, quickly became apparent, which can hardly be implemented in reality. None of the new bans can actually be enforced by the authorities, since violations according to the new Bavarian Nature Conservation Act are not considered administrative offenses in any of the cases and are not even subject to a fine .

The mandatory protection of the riparian strip does not apply immediately and everywhere, but only along those waters that are shown on a map to be drawn up by the water management authority. This map, developed over months of work by the specialist authorities, in which the bodies of water are shown where the marginal strips may no longer be cultivated as arable land, was briefly approved by Prime Minister Söder after the protest of a little over a hundred farmers and the appeal of the agricultural lobbyists in early December 2019 annulled.

The newly added Art. 3 (5) BayNatSchG opens up numerous possibilities for exemptions from the new ban on plowing up permanent grassland.

In the same way, the new legal regulation for the protection of orchards according to Art. 23 Paragraph 1 Letter b) No. 6 BayNatSchG is not generally effective everywhere, but only applies from an area size of 2,500 m² and from a distance of 50 m from a building.

Imitators and consequences

In Brandenburg, a popular initiative prepared by environmental protection associations has been running since April 15, 2019, with a similar objective.

Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze declared in February 2019 that a Germany-wide insect protection law should be passed.

The Baden-Württemberg referendum on species protection "Save the bees" was declared permissible by the Ministry of the Interior in August 2019.

The "Round Table for More Species and Nature Conservation", which was introduced in Bavaria after the successful referendum, resumed its work on December 9, 2019 at the suggestion of Prime Minister Markus Söder. I.a. The focus is now on representatives of the municipal umbrella organizations in order to determine the municipalities' options for action.

In July 2020, the biodiversity popular initiative "Save insects - stop species loss" was launched in North Rhine-Westphalia .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information from the Bavarian Parliament of July 17, 2019 , retrieved on August 10, 2019
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Application for approval of the referendum on biodiversity and natural beauty in Bavaria “Save the bees!” (PDF; 1.07 MB) volksbegehren-artenvielfalt.de, 2018, accessed on February 11 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b Approval of the referendum “Species diversity & natural beauty in Bavaria”. (PDF; 230 kB) Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, for Sport and Integration , November 13, 2018, accessed on February 14, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Law on state elections, referendums, referendums and referendums (state election law - LWG) in the version published on July 5, 2002 (GVBl. Pp. 277, 278, ber. P. 620); BayRS 111-1-I. www.gesetze-bayern.de, August 1, 2017, accessed on February 11, 2019 .
  5. ↑ ÖDP referendum “Save the bees” clears an important hurdle. br.de , October 5, 2018, accessed on February 13, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Referendum on biodiversity. www.auf-den-berg.de, January 30, 2019, accessed on February 10, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Referendum "Biodiversity & Natural Beauty in Bavaria" from January 31 to February 13, 2019. www.wahlen.bayern.de, December 12, 2018, accessed on February 11, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Referendum "Biodiversity & Natural Beauty in Bavaria" (abbreviated as "Save the bees!") - Final result: 18.3 percent of those eligible to vote signed up. www.statistik.bayern.de, March 14, 2019, accessed on March 19, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Referendums and referendums. www.wahlen.bayern.de, 2019, accessed on February 14, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Popular initiative: approval of the round table by all parliamentary groups. February 13, 2019, accessed on February 16, 2019 (German).
  11. ↑ Round table: Söder invites you to “Save the bees and the farmers”. br.de , February 12, 2019, accessed on February 14, 2019 .
  12. ↑ SPIEGEL online report from April 3, 2019 , accessed on May 4, 2019
  13. ^ Opinion to the state parliament
  14. ^ Plenary minutes of the state parliament
  15. ↑ Report on the website of Undekade.Biologischeevielfalt.de , accessed on August 10, 2019
  16. ↑ Bavaria adopts legislative package according to the species protection referendum , Focus Online, July 17, 2019.
  17. ↑ Legal text in the version of August 1, 2019 , accessed on August 10, 2019
  18. ↑ Law in favor of biodiversity and natural beauty in Bavaria (Art Protection Act - Reconciliation Act) of July 24, 2019, accessed on December 9, 2019
  19. ^ A b Caroline von Eichhorn: Bavarian referendum "Save the bees" started. In: www.br.de. May 18, 2018, archived from the original on April 12, 2019 ; accessed on March 11, 2019 .
  20. ^ Anton Rauch: With Agnes Becker from Lower Bavaria, the ÖDP is going to the state election. In: www.br.de. July 15, 2018, archived from the original on September 11, 2018 ; accessed on March 11, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Alliance partner. volksbegehren-artenvielfalt.de, 2019, accessed on February 13, 2019 .
  22. ↑ a b Dirk Walter, Dominik Göttler, Florian Naumann: Referendum "Save the bees" in Bavaria: arguments for and against. merkur.de , February 11, 2019, accessed on February 13, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Julia Haas: "Save the bees": Pros and cons of the referendum. br.de , February 5, 2019, accessed on February 13, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Law amending the Bavarian Nature Conservation Act in favor of biodiversity and natural beauty in Bavaria ("Save the bees!"). Bavarian Law and Ordinance Gazette No. 14/2019, July 24, 2019, accessed on December 16, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Ulrich Graf: Rivers Edge Strip : Söder draws a map. Agricultural weekly paper, December 2, 2019, accessed on December 16, 2019 .
  26. ↑ Law amending the Bavarian Nature Conservation Act in favor of biodiversity and natural beauty in Bavaria ("Save the bees!"). Bavarian Law and Ordinance Gazette No. 14/2019, July 24, 2019, p. 406 , accessed on December 16, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Law amending the Bavarian Nature Conservation Act in favor of biodiversity and natural beauty in Bavaria ("Save the bees!"). Bavarian Law and Ordinance Gazette No. 14/2019, July 24, 2019, p. 407 , accessed on December 16, 2019 .
  28. ↑ Popular initiative “Biodiversity - Save the Bees” successful in Bavaria. bund-brandenburg.de, February 13, 2019
  29. ↑ People's initiative to save biodiversity - protect the future!
  30. ^ Insect protection by law. tagesschau.de, February 17, 2019.
  31. ↑ SWR. Current: Green light for bee referendum. Südwestrundfunk, August 15, 2019, accessed on September 15, 2019 .
  32. ↑ Round table on species protection continues: new focus on municipalities . In:  Süddeutsche Zeitung of December 9, 2019.
  33. ↑ Ralf Bittner: Signature campaign "Save insects, stop species loss" is ongoing. In: New Westphalian. July 25, 2020, accessed August 14, 2020 .