Duplomb Law on Agriculture: The petition with 1.3 million signatures was "exploited," accuses the LR senator who submitted it

Senator Laurent Duplomb (Les Républicains) denounced, on Monday July 21, a "manipulated" petition against the law that bears his name, which is said to be intended to "put pressure on the Constitutional Council" , while it has passed the threshold of one million signatures on the National Assembly website.

"This petition system is designed to put pressure on the Constitutional Council and hope that it does not validate the law," the senator denounced on RMC, while the Council must rule on the text by August 10.

This petition was launched by a student on July 10, two days after the adoption of the law which provides in particular for the reintroduction, by way of derogation and under conditions, of acetamiprid , a pesticide from the neonicotinoid family, banned in France but authorized in Europe.

The petition had collected 1.2 million signatures as of Monday morning, while once the threshold of 500,000 signatures is reached, the Conference of Presidents of the National Assembly can decide to organize a debate in public session.

The President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, has already stated that she is in favor of holding a debate at the start of the parliamentary session, but if it is decided, she will not re-examine the substance of the law. This would require a separate legislative text.

"This debate will be held in the National Assembly, but in no case will it revisit the law," assured Mr. Duplomb, who put the success of the petition into perspective. "I am not sure that, if it had not been exploited by the extreme left and the ecologists, the French would have taken up this petition spontaneously and signed so many," he said. "When you demonize things and when you scare everyone, by definition, you can have this result," he said.

This pesticide is in demand by beet and hazelnut producers, who believe they have no other solution against the pests and are subject to unfair competition. Conversely, beekeepers warn of it as a "bee killer." Its effects on humans are also a source of concern, although the risks remain uncertain due to a lack of large-scale studies.