Late frosts, repeated droughts... The Senate with a right-wing majority adopted on Tuesday evening at first reading, after the National Assembly, an overhaul of crop insurance, after having "
muscled
" the text to make it a "
real orientation bill
”.
The bill aimed at better compensating farmers in the face of increasingly frequent climatic calamities was passed by 315 votes in favor and 28 against.
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Deputies and senators will now try to agree on a compromise text, failing which the National Assembly will have the last word.
The government is aiming for entry into force on January 1, 2023, recalled the Minister of Agriculture Julien Denormandie.
He presented “
the three-stage architecture
” of the reform, “
according to a principle of equitable risk sharing, a first stage under the responsibility of the farmer up to a deductible threshold;
a second floor under the responsibility of the insurer, which must also assume its responsibilities (...);
a third floor under the State above a loss threshold
”.
Supporting a “ necessary
” reform
, the senators criticized a text that was “
too vague
”.
Despite an unfavorable opinion from the minister, the Senate wished to include in the law, on the one hand the financial commitment of the government to pay "
an annual envelope of 600 million euros per year over the period 2023-2030
".
And on the other hand "
clearly
" in the annexes to the bill "
the objectives to be achieved in terms of agricultural land insured by 2030 by production
", as well as indicative objectives for the levels of intervention by the State per output.
“Farmers need to get involved in numbers”
The senators have provided for thresholds and rates, fixed by decree by the government, to be fixed for five years.
For the rapporteur Laurent Duplomb (LR), it is a question of giving farmers “
a form of serenity and confidence
”.
Concerning young farmers, the Senate voted, in agreement with the government, a system of “
modulation
” of the installation aid, to encourage them to take out multi-risk climate insurance as soon as they start their activity.
“
Farmers must commit in numbers
”, declared Daniel Gremillet (LR), also calling on the minister to “
ensure that the State is there
”.
“
This text represents real progress for all of our farmers
”, approved the centrist Pierre Louault, while Franck Menonville (Independents) stressed that if “
it is a question of the future of our agriculture (…) it is also about strengthening our food sovereignty
”.
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On the left, the socialist Franck Montaugé hailed "
a founding text for the resilience of our agriculture
".
The majority communist and environmentalist CRCE groups voted against them, Fabien Gay (CRCE) deploring that he “
acts a little more the withdrawal of the State and gives insurers a central place in the governance of the system
”.
