Hi Ghislain > do you really know what happens in > The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, ...? Although I have some contacts in Europe (i.e. excluding the UK), clearly I could not know everything that is happening despite fairly extensive reading - nor did I wish to convey that impression. I was simply trying to point out that there is a lobby here that is trying to claim that the UK's beekeeping is in a perilous state and that we should be given large handouts to solve the problem. In my view that is just not so. Yes, varroa is a problem that we could do without - but it is manageable. The weather here has always been fickle but we have to live with that - not cry CCD every time we have a bad summer! Another problem here is too many beginners who want to 'Save the Bee' following all the media hype; according to official statistics, 50% of beginners lose their bees in their first winter. It would be interesting to have your views on the situation in the rest of Europe. Best wishes Peter *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm