Armed with placards denouncing the “Inquisition” or a “Republic of Judges”, farmers from the greater Paris Basin set fire to wooden pallets in front of the gates of the highest administrative court before being dislodged by the forces of the 'order.
“We knew the government and the laws.
We now know the Council of State which, ultimately for us, becomes the second government of France since it has systematically sanctioned a certain number of texts for a few months ", declared to AFP Damien Greffin, president of the FNSEA for the Parisian Grand Bassin.
At the end of July, the Council of State asked the government to strengthen within six months the regulations governing the spreading of pesticides "to better protect the population".
After several months of controversy, the government had set in December 2019 the minimum distances to be observed between the areas where phytosanitary products are spread and homes: five meters for so-called low crops such as vegetables and cereals, and ten meters for crops. tall, fruit trees or vines.
Read alsoPesticide spreading: eight NGOs attack the new regulations before the Council of State
The decree also provided for exemptions reducing these distances to three meters for tall crops and five for low ones, within the framework of "departmental commitment charters" proposed by users of phytosanitary products and validated by the prefects after having been submitted to public consultation.
It is these minimum distances that have been contested by associations, municipalities or organic farmers. The Council of State considered that the minimum spreading distances set at five meters for products whose toxicity is only suspected were "insufficient" and gave six months to the government to review its copy. As the deadline approaches, farmers are increasingly worried, fearing significant production losses if distances are extended. They also question the implementation of these provisions.
“When you take your tractor to work your field, you will have to go and warn your residents, your neighbors.
(…) You cannot ask a farmer to telephone 200 people to tell them "Be careful, I am taking out my tractor to go to the fields!"
".
We have reached that point.
It's laughable, ”Damien Greffin got carried away.