In France, a minister may resign over the farmers' bill — Politico
Monique Barbou, France’s Minister for Ecological Transition, plans to resign in protest against a controversial agricultural bill. The bill has drawn criticism due to its potential impact on the agricultural sector and the environment.
According to a member of the minister’s team who wished to remain anonymous, Barbou told Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and her office that she would resign following the expected passage of the bill by the French Senate later on Tuesday.
The government’s initial draft bill was intended to address frequent complaints from French farmers about declining profitability and increasingly difficult production conditions.
However, two of its provisions—one temporarily allowing the use of a currently banned pesticide for nut growers, and the other doubling water storage limits for farmers for the next decade —turned the bill into the epicenter of political controversy.
Barbou opposed the proposals regarding pesticides and water storage. Both of these amendments were introduced at a late stage in the legislative process to ensure the bill’s passage in the Senate, where conservatives hold a majority. The minister clearly expressed her disagreement in an interview with the Sunday newspaper La Tribune Dimanche this weekend.
“This government bill, intended to address the emergency facing our farmers, has—following the Senate’s amendments—significantly altered the policy governing the distribution of water resources in our country,” Barbou noted.
Anne Genevieve, the conservative Minister of Agriculture, openly opposed her colleague from the Ministry of Ecological Transition. In an interview with another Sunday publication, *Le Journal du Dimanche*, she warned: “Allowing this bill to fail—whether due to ideology, self-interest, or fear—means pushing farmers to the brink of despair.”
Source: Politico
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