France: record-breaking petition against agricultural law
A petition initiated by a student against a new French agricultural law two weeks ago has already gathered 1.7 million signatures, upping the pressure on the government. The "Loi Duplomb" relaxes environmental regulations governing the use of pesticides, including acetamiprid. The product has been banned in France for several years, but not in any other EU country.
Apathy? What apathy?
Libération welcomes the mobilisation:
“It spectacularly contradicts the idea that people are losing interest and turning away from politics. A new participatory democratic tool exists and people are embracing it. ... It also puts back on the table the difficult debates that the Loi Duplomb would rather sweep under the carpet. ... Economic lobbies, particularly in the agri-food sector, thought they could carry on with their usual influence-peddling. Well they were very much mistaken.”
Don't ignore the envirnomental debate
Parliamentarians must take this initiative seriously, Le Temps insists:
“By abandoning the debate so as not to position themselves as opponents of farmers who are struggling to survive, French politicians have failed to fulfil their duty. The petition shows that there were opponents to many of the farmers' demands, and that a debate is needed to determine whether the majority of French people who backed the farmers [in the 2024 protests] supported their entire programme. As was the case with the yellow vests and their opposition to fuel tax increases, or more recently with the protest against wind turbines, which is in the process of being incorporated into French legislation, 'punitive' environmentalism has become one of the main targets of the French right, and even sometimes of the centrist government. They all see it as a reservoir of votes and popular support.”
A threat to food supplies
The initiative jeopardises food security, warns geographer and economist Sylvie Brunel in Le Point:
“Without pesticides, without water reserves, with no recourse to genetic engineering, with ever more restrictions, ever stricter controls and higher penalties, how can agriculture not suffer and collapse, making us more and more dependent on countries that don't have the same scruples? ... As in other areas, we must focus on performance, competitiveness and security for agriculture: supplies for our major cities depend on it, as does everyone's access to food. Are those who signed the petition aware of the dangers they face today?”