French President Emmanuel Macron has signed into law a modified agriculture bill that bars a banned pesticide from being reintroduced. The move comes after the Constitutional Council – the country’s highest court – struck down the clause last week, ruling it violated France’s environmental charter.
Known as the Duplomb law, the legislation has been at the centre of a heated debate and fuelled a student-led petition that gathered more than two million signatures.
The law was published in the government’s official journal on Tuesday after the Constitutional Council, the country's highest court, struck down the contested provision about the reintroduction of acetamiprid.
Judges said the family of pesticides known as neonicotinoids posed “risks to human health” and “have an impact on biodiversity, particularly for pollinating insects and birds”.
They said the measure was unconstitutional because it undermined the right to live in a balanced and healthy environment, guaranteed in the environmental charter signed in 2005.
French court to rule on agriculture law that poses threat to bees and nature
Banned in France since 2018, acetamiprid remains legal in the European Union. Some beet and hazelnut producers had called for its return to combat pests and stay competitive.
The main farmers union (FNSEA) has railed against the court ruling calling it "unacceptable and incomprehensible".
Laurent Duplomb, the conservative senator who introduced the law, warned it would mean more imports of products containing acetamiprid and reduced French production. He said he may submit a new bill that meets the Constitutional Council’s criteria.
'Severe consequences'
The General Confederation of Beet Growers said in a statement the ban would have “severe” consequences and “weaken” industrial sugar processing facilities.
French Health Minister Yannick Neuder has called for a European reassessment of the impact of acetamiprid on human health with a view to "banning this product" if risks are proven.
"This is about putting France on the same level of precautionary principle as other European countries," he stressed, noting "ongoing studies, in particular, on its potential endocrine disruptor or neurotoxic role."
French health experts oppose bill that could reintroduce banned pesticides
Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard, who supported the reintroduction of acetamiprid, said on social media platform X that the government would not leave the sectors affected "without a solution".
The issue has galvanised the protest against the Duplomb law among members of the public and the scientific community.
A petition calling for its repeal gathered more than 2.1 million signatures on the National Assembly's website, an unprecedented number, opening the possibility of a future parliamentary debate, even if it would be essentially symbolic.
Commentators suggest the petition is a sign of exasperation with deadlock in a hung parliament and a desire to have a greater say in political matters.
Adopted by parliament in early July with the support of Macron's supporters and the far right, the bill was criticised by the Left who said their amendments had not been taken into account.
No new debate
Far-left France Unbowed (LFI) MP Antoine Léaument said the council's decision was a "battle won" but regretted that Macron had promulgated the bill "rather than requesting a new vote" in parliament.
Léaument also called for "strong measures to prevent the entry of products that use this pesticide into French territory."
As for the Green Party group in the National Assembly, it has announced its intention to submit a bill to attempt to obtain "a total repeal" of the law.
While the pesticide clause has been struck out, the rest of the Duplomb law remains in place.
It approved measures simplifying paperwork for large livestock operations and the construction of water storage facilities for agriculture – though with some reservations for the latter.
