In the joint parliamentary committee, senators and MPs have just voted to reinstate acetamiprid and flupyradifurone.
Exemption-Based Uses Restored
It’s done, confirmed: two pesticides are being reintroduced under Article 2 Quater of the Agricultural Emergency Law, discussed in the joint committee between deputies and senators. While the initial version of the Duplomb law had been rejected by the Constitutional Council, the government’s new bill has just been amended, at the request of LR Senator Laurent Duplomb, and despite opposition from the left-wing parties.
Thus, in the version adopted on July 16 in the joint committee, the exemption for acetamiprid, a neonicotinoid, is limited to hazelnut crops. Flupyradifurone, considered dangerous to bees, can also be used under exemption for sugar beet seed coating, for apples and for cherries. For the Ecologists and Social group, “whether it’s beets, apples, cherries or hazelnuts, each crop will have its exemption for three years, either for flupyradifurone or for acetamiprid.”
“A Law from Another Era”
Article 2 bis of the law now provides that the “grace period” be systematically set to the maximum duration allowed in case of withdrawal of a plant protection product’s market authorization. In practical terms, this means that banned pesticides can still be sold for six months and used for a year.
Finally, Article 5 approves a doubling of water storage targets and a stronger presence of irrigants in water governance. The influence of farmers and prefects is enhanced vis-à-vis local elected officials, to facilitate the construction of storage infrastructure. “This is a law from another era, ignoring the transformations of the world,” protested opponents of the text, highlighting a risk of water resource grabbing by operators.
