Two days before the first round of the legislative elections, the majority is concentrating its attacks on Nupes, with an element of language that has clearly emerged in recent days.
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Christophe Castaner, the president of the En Marche group at the National Assembly, was firing on all cylinders this week on France 2: “We will no longer even be able to cut our wood on our own property according to Jean Luc Mélenchon because that is part of the proposals he makes”. He is not the only one to put forward this argument, Emmanuel Macron also spoke about it the day before yesterday during a trip to Clichy-sous-bois: “It’s a project, I took the trouble to read it. There is the word ‘forbidden’ 35 times. It’s still a project where we explain to people that we’re going to forbid you to cut trees in your home”. A false statement that deserves some clarification.
No, Jean-Luc Mélenchon does not propose a ban on cutting wood at home as Christophe Castaner and Emmanuel Macron say. We do not find this measure as such in the Nupes program. In reality, Christophe Castaner and Emmanuel Macron refer to another proposal which aims to ban “clean cuts”. This consists of massively felling trees over an entire plot in the event of disease, for example, and when there are no other solutions, explains the National Forestry Office.
Except that the Nupes proposal concerns the felling of an area greater than two hectares, this means roughly the equivalent of three football fields filled with trees. Clearly, it is a question of limiting felling in forests, whether public or private, but the measure has nothing to do with an individual who cuts a tree or wood in his garden.
Another question: does the Nupes program contain the word “forbidden” 35 times, as Emmanuel Macron says?
Yes, it’s true: we find this word 35 times. But said like that, it is quite misleading, because if the program does indeed propose new prohibitions, such as the end of factory farms or the end of stock market layoffs, the 35 occurrences are not only new prohibitions. For example, the Nupes proposes to prohibit “immediately” single-use plastics. This amounts to accelerating the planned timetable: the ban has already been voted under Macron’s first five-year term but comes into force gradually.