French president signs new agricultural law after more than two million people sign petition French

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In its decision on August 7, the Constitutional Council, however, approved other provisions of the law, namely administrative simplifications for the largest livestock farms and the construction of water reservoirs for agricultural purposes. The judges also approved provisions that were eagerly awaited by a significant number of farmers and that make it easier to expand or build pig and poultry farms. The law, which was passed by parliament in early July with the support of the president’s party, the center-right Republicans and the National Rally led by Marine Le Pen, has sparked widespread protests, particularly in academic circles.

A petition calling for the law to be repealed has been signed by more than 2.1 million people on the National Assembly website, an unprecedented amount

The petition was launched by a 23-year-old master’s student on July 10 on the website of the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly. This option for petitions has been available in France on the website of the Chamber of Deputies since 2019, and aims to strengthen participatory democracy. Such significant support for the petition opened the legal way for an unprecedented parliamentary debate on an already adopted text, but the president ruled out the possibility of this after the Constitutional Council removed the controversial measure from the text of the law. The petition requested the repeal of the provision that provided for the exceptional and conditional reintroduction of the pesticide acetamiprid, which belongs to the neonicotinoid family and is banned in France but authorised elsewhere in Europe until 2033.

Previous studies have shown that this substance can have adverse sublethal effects on a number of organisms, including pollinators and natural predators of agricultural pests

That is, it does not directly kill animals, but indirectly reduces the success of individuals (and their colonies) by altering their physiology or behaviour. According to the researchers, its effects on humans are also “a cause for concern”. The Constitutional Council considered that, in the absence of appropriate regulation, this measure was contrary to “the framework established in the jurisprudence of the Environmental Charter”, which was incorporated into the French Constitution in 2005. In their ruling, the judges recalled that neonicotinoids “have an impact on biodiversity, in particular on pollinating insects and birds, and pose a risk to human health.” While the Constitutional Council had previously granted a temporary exemption from the ban for the sugar beet sector and seeds in 2020, this time it rejected the exemption introduced by law, pointing out that it was not limited in time, did not apply to a specific sector and also covered spraying, which poses a high risk due to the dispersion of the substance. French health minister Yannick Neuder called on Friday for a reassessment at European level of the impact of acetamiprid on human health and for “this product to be banned” everywhere in Europe if risks were proven. Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard said the Constitutional Council’s decision maintained “the divergence between French and European law” and “the conditions of unfair competition, which risked the disappearance of certain sectors.” She promised that the government would stand by farmers “so that they would not be left without a solution.” The FNSEA, France’s largest agricultural lobby, described the Constitutional Council’s decision as “unacceptable.” The Greens’ parliamentary group announced that it would submit a bill to “completely repeal” the law. Right-wing senator Laurent Duplomb, who had proposed the partially annulled agricultural law, did not rule out submitting a new text on Friday to reinstate the controversial pesticide, but taking into account the criteria set by the Constitutional Council.

MTI