Duplomb Law: a citizen mobilization of unprecedented scale

In the space of ten days, a petition launched by a student claiming to be unaffiliated with any party has garnered more than 1.5 million supporters on the National Assembly's website. This record is striking: never before has a citizen initiative of this type surpassed the 500,000 signature mark. The momentum is now such that no one knows where the counter will stop. The text calls for the "immediate repeal" of the Duplomb law, which, finally passed on July 8, ratifies a series of environmental setbacks such as the acceleration of water storage projects, the facilitation of intensive livestock farming and, above all, the reintroduction of pesticides, including acetamiprid, a neonicotinoid banned in France since 2018, but still authorized in Europe until 2033. Beet and hazelnut producers obtained, through lobbying, authorization to reuse it, explaining that it was the only way for them to avoid going under in the face of competition from their neighbors.

The unprecedented scale of the citizen mobilization currently taking place on environmental issues through the now-famous petition has taken everyone by surprise. In contrast to the 2024 European elections, which in France and many other European Union countries have seen a decline in the support of environmental parties and a rise in the far right, it demonstrates not only a real awakening of awareness but also a desire to make a difference when health issues are at stake.

Acetamiprid is accused of harming pollinating insects, accumulating in soil and groundwater, and posing risks to human health. The many signatories had little difficulty identifying with the terms of the petition, which denounces a "scientific, ethical, environmental, and health aberration." But it is also undoubtedly the influential power of the FNSEA (National Federation of Food, Agriculture and Rural Development), which is strongly committed to intensive agriculture. Before becoming a senator (Les Républicains, LR), Laurent Duplomb, the author of the bill, was president of the Haute-Loire Chamber of Agriculture.

Democratically speaking, the success of this citizen initiative is not neutral . Its first effect is to remind Parliament of its recent shortcomings. By surpassing the 500,000 signature mark, the petitioners obtained the possibility of organizing a debate in public session on the law passed at the start of the school year, something that the deputies, too divided, were unable to do at the end of May, during the examination of the text. The maneuver of the rapporteur, Julien Dive (LR), consisting of having a motion of rejection voted to thwart the risk of obstruction from the left had the effect of sending the discussion behind closed doors by a joint committee composed of seven deputies and seven senators. While everything was legal, nothing proved satisfactory. In view of the issues raised by the text, it was imperative that the pros and cons be expressed openly.

The petition's second effect is to put the entire political representation in a state of tension. Building on the momentum already underway, the left is vowing to undo the Duplomb law. But, in addition to having to wait for the decision of the Constitutional Council, which it has already referred to, its room for maneuver is narrower than that of the President of the Republic. The latter can request a new deliberation of the text, or even refrain from promulgating the law if the protests become even more widespread. The petition's goal was undoubtedly not to bring Emmanuel Macron back into the game, but the implacable logic of the ^Fifth Republic leads us to do so.