Agricultural laws: Parliament rolls out the red carpet for environmental destruction
Reintroduction of neonicotinoids, facilitation of intensive farming and harm to protected species… With the proposed bill aiming at “removing constraints on the farming profession” coming before the National Assembly, the Senate is shooting at animals and nature. This is an unprecedented step backwards under pressure from agricultural unions. At the same time, the draft bill “agricultural orientation law” simply ensures criminal immunity for those who will attack protected species. Faced with this unprecedented outburst, there is still time to say stop!
Reauthorisation of neonicotinoids: authorised massacre of biodiversity
On 27 January, the Senate signed the death warrant for millions of pollinators by allowing the return of a neonicotinoid substance, which can even be sprayed… by drones. Whereas a first series of exemptions was cancelled by the Council of State in 2023, senators are persisting. Though the difficulties faced by farmers are real, the reintroduction of these pesticides, which destroy biodiversity, will not provide any lasting solution. On the contrary, killing pollinators, insects and birds means destroying agriculture, and therefore farmers.
The sixth mass extinction of species has begun, but elected officials are deliberately choosing to align themselves with intensive agriculture lobbies in the name of a criminal and short-sighted anti-ecological ideology. Rather than listening to science and investing heavily in ecosystem-friendly alternatives to neonicotinoids, they prefer to vote for a backward-looking text that borders on obscurantism by reversing the ban provided for in the 2016 law.
Livestock farming, protected species… Parliament takes up the sprayer against animals
As if killing bees wasn’t enough, senators want to facilitate intensive livestock farming projects. Until now, farmers who built buildings to house thousands of animals before slaughtering them, had to present their plans to local residents. Saying that they were unwelcome would be an understatement. But rather than questioning the reasons for this rejection, the bill simply proposes to… abolish these public meetings.
To cap it all off, individuals belonging to protected species shouldn’t find themselves near the construction sites of “mega-basins”, gigantic water reservoirs that drain groundwater in order to maintain, at all costs, an agricultural model that destroys life. These projects will be considered “of major public interest”, which will make it easier to obtain exemptions to harm protected species. This is yet another blow, as the Senate is considering an agricultural policy bill that simply decriminalises many offences against these species, reducing the penalties from three years’ imprisonment and a €150,000 fine to… €450, without trial. We join nature conservation associations in denouncing this retrograde and dangerous text.
While the authorities are declaring war on animals and the environment, there is still time to act. One Voice is therefore going into action to refuse this ravaging earth policy. We are joining forces with numerous organisations by signing the open letter from the Terre d’Abeilles association. Like us, write to your MPs to urge them to reconsider these provisions, and sign the petition to contest the decriminalisation of harm to protected species! And if these texts are adopted, we will of course be ready to challenge them in court.