elected environmentalists scandalized by the pause of the Ecophyto plan

The suspension of the Ecophyto plan, announced Thursday by the government, makes environmentalists jump. For the Greens, this is further proof of the head of state’s climate inaction.

Setting “break” of the Ecophyto plan scandalizes the left. This plan, denounced by farmers, aimed at halving the use of pesticides by 2030, is therefore suspended “time to put in place a new indicator” to measure the use of these molecules. Announcement from the government of Gabriel Attal, Thursday February 1, to put an end to the crisis which has gripped the agricultural world.

A “monstrous hypocrisy” for ecologists, who believe that there is nothing left of Emmanuel Macron’s slogan for the environment, the “make our planet great again” from 2017. “Today, we have ‘make pesticides great again’”squeaks the environmentalist deputy Julien Bayou, who does not lose his temper. “Water, even mineral water from now on, is polluted by pesticides: it’s monstrous to say that it’s the fault of ecology.”

“The more pesticides there are, the more prostate cancer there is among farmers, the more Parkinson’s disease there is, and the more deep water aquifers are polluted.”

Julien Bayou, environmentalist deputy

at franceinfo

A “drama” for biodiversity and for health, assures the patron saint of ecologists Marine Tondelier: “It’s a moment of cowardice. We have a government that has decided to no longer protect water, no longer protect the earth, no longer protect biodiversity, or even our health. But it is not with that our farmers will earn more, which is their main demand and their main problem.” According to Marine Tondelier, “The farmers don’t win with this measure, but we all lose! Everyone loses, so I think it’s a pretty catastrophic announcement.”

“An unacceptable setback”, supports the head of the environmentalist list in the European elections, Marie Toussaint. She had also, with several associations, provoked this court decision which forced the State to correct its trajectory by June 30, to reduce the use of pesticides and to protect waters. This pause in the Ecophyto plan is therefore, according to her, completely illegal.

“Return after setback in environmental matters”

Many environmentalists are ironic on social networks, recalling sentences pronounced by Emmanuel Macron like “this five-year term will be ecological or it will not be”. The president is doing just the opposite, according to Insoumise MP Aurélie Trouvé: “Return after setback in environmental matters. I remember President Macron saying ‘Make the planet great again’. He has just announced a very, very serious setback from an environmental point of view, while farmers are ready to take up this challenge of agroecology. We just have to give them the means.”

The left had already pointed out, during a parliamentary commission of inquiry, the lack of effectiveness of this Ecophyto plan, the lack of investments. The socialist Dominique Potier was the rapporteur.
For him, today is a massive blow: “I feel immense sadness. It’s more than a step backwards, it’s a shift. And I can even say that it’s an illiberal drift. The signal given today is to give the “illusion that a balance of power is enough to stop the collapse of biodiversity, to stop the impacts on health, to stop climate change.”

In the Prime Minister’s entourage, we want to reassure: it is simply a matter of “from shutdown until the Agricultural Show” For “take up a certain number of methodological points. There is no questioning of the importance of reducing the consumption of phytosanitary products. (…) The direction remains the same”.