A final version of the Ecophyto pesticide reduction plan, put on hold after the agricultural crisis, should be presented at the beginning of April, Matignon learned on Friday.
This will be the
“final plan”
and it will be presented
“at the beginning of April after the last consultations in March”
.
President Emmanuel Macron in particular must once again receive farmers' representatives.
This clarification was given the day after a meeting between Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and the main environmental defense associations.
Received in Matignon for the first time since the agricultural crisis, these associations made Gabriel Attal hear their
“anger”
against his ecological
“setbacks”
since this crisis, obtaining the promise of being listened to again but without yet having received
“ clear signals”
.
Pesticides remain considered a
“means of production”
by a majority of farmers who refuse to do without them
“without an alternative solution”
even though their uses are expected to decrease considerably by 2030.
Anger of the FNSEA
The government intends to abandon the indicator it currently uses to measure the reduction in pesticide use, Nodu, defended by environmental associations but contested by the FNSEA and the pesticide industry, in favor of the European indicator HRI1.
The Prime Minister is walking on a tightrope: he received on Monday evening the agricultural unions who are putting pressure in the opposite direction.
The FNSEA estimated that the government was not moving
“at the right pace”
to implement the 62 measures announced by the executive to respond to their demands.
The FNSEA also contests the power to decide on the authorization of a pesticide in France vested in the health agency Anses.
Matignon assured Friday that Anses
“would continue to issue authorizations”
for pesticides.