Duplomb Law: Mathilde Panot writes a letter to Emmanuel Macron to request "a new deliberation"

La France Insoumise is calling on the President of the Republic to initiate "a new deliberation" on the Duplomb law, as the petition calling for its repeal neared 1.6 million signatures on Tuesday, July 22.

"In accordance with Article 148 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, a petition that has crossed the threshold of 500,000 signatures may give rise to a parliamentary debate, at the initiative of the Conference of Presidents," asserts Mathilde Panot, president of the rebellious group in the National Assembly.

A lever that can in fact be activated if these 500,000 signatures come from at least 30 different overseas departments or communities.

"This debate must take place. But it will not be enough," she continues in her letter, while referring to a number of signatures that "testifies to a massive rejection" by the population.

Mathilde Panot is calling on the President of the Republic to request Parliament to re-examine "all or part of the law." "You will have 12 days after the decision (of the Constitutional Council), expected no later than August 10, to exercise this prerogative."

The president of the LFI group in the National Assembly calls for Emmanuel Macron's "responsibility" "as guarantor of the Constitution," she insists.

The Duplomb law , nicknamed the "pesticide law" by its opponents, was adopted on July 8 by Parliament and provides for the reintroduction, by way of derogation and under conditions, of acetamiprid, a pesticide from the neonicotinoid family, banned in France but authorized in Europe.

This law "embodies a series of major setbacks in environmental protection, with potentially dramatic consequences for public health," Mathilde Panot points out in her letter, a position shared by left-wing MPs of all stripes, as well as environmental associations, members of the scientific community and citizens, which has led to the creation of a petition on the National Assembly website.

During the text's parliamentary journey, its own rapporteur, Julien Dive (LR), had tabled a preliminary motion of rejection, justified by the "obstruction" of the left, which had tabled several thousand amendments.

An action also taken up by Mathilde Panot, who justifies the need for a second deliberation of the law by citing "the supporters of the text (who) filed a prior motion of rejection against their own project, thus preventing any debate in public session."

Since then, Senator Laurent Duplomb (LR), who initiated the eponymous law, has denounced a petition "exploited by the far left and by environmentalists", whose system "is designed to put pressure on the Constitutional Council and hope that it does not validate the law".