The Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty was the guest of “8:30 am franceinfo”, Tuesday May 9, 2023.
Marc Fesneau, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, was the guest of 8:30 am franceinfoTuesday May 9, 2023. Liot bill on pensions, drought, pesticides… He answers questions from Marc Fauvelle and Salhia Brakhlia.
Bill from the Liot group against pension reform: “I am never worried about the debate in Parliament”
Asked about the Liot group’s bill to repeal the pension reform which will be examined in the Assembly on June 8, the Minister of Agriculture replied: “I was Minister for Relations with Parliament. I am never worried about the debate in Parliament”. Regarding the tabling of amendments by the majority, he questions: “Do we have the right when we are in the majority to say that we do not agree? From how many amendments, we will consider that it is an obstruction?” However, the minister says he wants “discuss”hears that the Liot group “come back from 64 to 62” for retirement age, but adds: “So how do they fund it?” Regarding the vote on this law, Marc Fesneau does not comment: “We’ll see”he says, depending on the duration of the debates.
Drought: “If we can’t plant trees, if we can’t plant vines, I don’t know what we actually plant”
Faced with the lack of rain and the threat of drought in France, particularly as summer approaches, the minister spoke, targeting the Pyrénées-Orientales: “We have a terrible subject in a department like this, not just the loss of harvest, but sometimes the loss of the fruit trees themselves.” For the Minister, the question is therefore: “Do we manage to build a model that allows us to maintain arboriculture? If we can’t plant trees, if we can’t plant vines, I don’t know what we plant in do”. He asserts, “we need a water-efficient system”. It must therefore be thought, according to him, “in each territory with the potential for rain to fall” while wondering if “the productions are adapted to the rainfall” of the place.
Swimming pool: “Nobody would understand that we say ‘no ban except for farmers'”
Faced with this situation of lack of rain and drought, Marc Fesneau wishes a “collective effort”. “No one would understand if someone said ‘no ban except for farmers'”. Individuals are therefore also targeted by water restriction measures, in particular swimming pool owners. In the Pyrénées-Orientales, the sale of above-ground swimming pools has been prohibited: “For everyone, the rule will be the same in a number of departments with a lack of water”. For the Minister, this “is not an insult to people to say that we need to prioritize drinking water this year and essential uses”.
Egalim: “If Michel-Edouard Leclerc is not in favor, you have to ask yourself if the measure is not in his interest”
Regarding the measure of the Egalim law – criticized in particular by Michel-Edouard Leclerc – which obliges supermarkets to resell food products 10% more expensive than they bought them, the Minister of Agriculture reacts: “If Michel-Edouard Leclerc is not in favor, you have to ask yourself if the measure is not in his interest”, he quips. The minister then explains that he does not have the same fight as the businessman: “His is ‘The lower the price, the better’, except that the lower the price, the more producers are eliminated and we find ourselves in a situation of loss of sovereignty”. However, Marc Fesneau did not “want to make him a scapegoat”he only recalls that “everyone can do their part and large retailers too.”
ANSES, pesticides and S-metolachlor: we cannot “make decisions as if we were a desert island”
“I do not blame anything on ANSES (the Health Security Agency)”says the Minister, when asked about the Agency which recently banned the main uses of S-metolachlor, a powerful and controversial herbicide. “I’m just saying that in a European area, [nous ne pouvons pas] make decisions as if we were a desert island”judges the minister who insists on the fact that “it is not ANSES that is in question”. He defends himself against any attack on the Agency: “You have never seen me question the opinions of ANSES on its scientific basis. Never. I do not have the skill and it is not my temperament”.
Asked more specifically about S-metolachlor, he answers: “We have a decision before us which is a European decision. If it’s a product that poses problems, I think it’s not stupid that it happens in the European space because European products cross the border .” For the Minister, on this type of subject it would be necessary “coordinate better”maybe “Look at the alternatives we have before us” and put in place a better “planning”.
New communication advisor: “I can also take an operetta singer, like that, there will be no risk of conflict of interest”
The Minister of Agriculture has recently had a new communications adviser. A subject that is debated since it is the former director of communication of Ania, the main organization of agrifood manufacturers. Marc Fesneau defends himself from any risk of conflict of interest: “I can also take an operetta singer, so there will be no risk of conflict of interest, and we will not have a conflict of interest lawsuit”. The anti-corruption association Anticor pointed the finger at this recruitment. Marc Fesneau, for his part, holds up the card of the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP), which has given its approval: “On each appointment in a ministry, she gives you an opinion and tells you it is compatible or it is not compatible”he recalls, and “there are not many places in the world where it happens like that”. However, this new adviser “can’t get in touch with his previous employer, and that’s normal”assures Marc Fesneau.
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Find the entire “8:30 franceinfo” of Tuesday, May 9, 2023: