Petition against Duplomb law nears one million signatures, Yaël Braun-Pivet "in favor" of debate

Once the threshold of 500,000 signatures, reached on Saturday, and provided they come from at least 30 overseas departments or communities, the Conference of Presidents of the National Assembly may decide to organize a debate in public session. However, the law will not be reexamined in substance, let alone possibly repealed.

National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet said on franceinfo that she was "in favor" of organizing such a debate. But it "will under no circumstances be able to reverse the law passed," which, according to her, will "save a certain number of our farmers."

The author of the law, Republican Senator Laurent Duplomb, also believes that this unprecedented debate will take place . But he is concerned about "unfair competition" for farmers if the text, which allows the reintroduction of a pesticide banned in France but authorized in Europe, is not implemented. No petition has ever been debated in the chamber in the history of the Fifth Republic.

The President and the Prime Minister "must heed the popular anger against this law being pushed through. They must abandon its promulgation," wrote Manuel Bompard, coordinator of La France Insoumise, on X-rated channel Sunday. Opponents and supporters of the law, who had mobilized strongly during its review, once again expressed their disagreement. All left-wing parties called for this debate to take place on Saturday. "In the face of lobbies, there are millions of us: ecology is fighting back," Marine Tondelier, head of the Ecologists, had declared on X-rated channel.

Conversely, Arnaud Rousseau, head of the FNSEA (National Federation of French Agricultural Unions), the leading agricultural union, strongly in favor of the Duplomb law, believes that French agriculture will "disappear" if it is imposed "higher standards" than those of its European neighbors. This law "is a scientific, ethical, environmental, and health aberration," the student writes in her petition.

"Democratic revision"

The petition also calls for "a democratic review of the conditions under which the Duplomb law was adopted." In Parliament, it had indeed had a rushed path, with a preliminary motion of rejection filed by its own rapporteur, Julien Dive (LR), who was in favor of the text. The MP justified this by denouncing the "obstruction" of the left, which had tabled several thousand amendments.