The petition for the repeal of the Duplomb law signed by more than a million people, a story of unprecedented civic enthusiasm

They wanted to hijack the debate, which could well come back through the (democratic) window at the start of the school year. A petition calling for the repeal of the so-called "Duplomb" law , posted on the National Assembly's website on July 10, surpassed 970,000 signatures this Sunday. A record, moreover, in just over a week, which demonstrates the strength of this popular, spontaneous movement, bursting into the democratic debate.

This threshold of 500,000 participations crossed – and if the signatures come from at least 30 overseas departments or communities – could lead the Conference of Presidents of the National Assembly to organize a debate in public session on this petition. And therefore, by ricochet, on this Duplomb law , which had not been the subject of a proper discussion due to a procedural sleight of hand by the deputies of the "central bloc".

This proposed agriculture law, which provides, among other things, for the reintroduction of acetamiprid, a pesticide that poses potential risks to human health, was initiated by Laurent Duplomb, a Republican senator and former FNSEA representative. Adopted in January by the Senate, it was supposed to be examined by the National Assembly starting May 26. But LR MP Julien Dive, rapporteur of the law at the Palais-Bourbon, had filed a motion of rejection... on his own text.

This maneuver caused the text to be sent back to the Joint Committee (CMP) , with a right-wing and Macronist majority, and allowed its adoption on July 8 without debate in the chamber. " This procedure poses the threat of a serious precedent for our democratic life! Every time the government fears a debate, will Parliament be systematically sidelined?" Julien Brugerolles, a Communist MP for Puy-de-Dôme, worried at the time, to L'Humanité .

He also warned the instigators of this coup: "These fundamental issues, on the agricultural model that we want, one way or another, we will address them!" Strengthened by this petition launched by Éléonore Pattery, a 23-year-old master's student, the left is therefore determined to obtain this stolen debate and has already demanded its inclusion on the Assembly's agenda "as soon as the school year begins." This would be a first, as no citizen petition has ever been debated in the National Assembly in the history of the Fifth Republic.

Interviewed on France Info this Sunday, the President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, said she was "obviously in favor" of it being held, while dashing the hopes of opponents: this discussion "can in no way go back on the law passed," she warned.

On the other hand, this possibility could well come from the Constitutional Council, with LFI, Green, and Communist MPs filing an appeal on July 11, arguing that the law is incompatible with environmental protection requirements and the right to health. Another possibility would be for the President of the Republic to ask Parliament for a new deliberation of the law or certain of its articles.

Marine Tondelier, the national secretary of the Ecologists , appealed to the head of state in a video published on X: "Never have so many people signed a petition against a law that has been passed (...), we must request a second deliberation of the Duplomb law, you have the power, Mr. Emmanuel Macron, the French people are asking you." The President of the Republic could also simply decide not to promulgate this law.

Enough to cause a few cold sweats among his supporters. On France Info, Senator Laurent Duplomb expressed his irritation at these "petitioners, who, like Sandrine Rousseau, don't care about the profitability of economic activities" and was moved by their environmental ambitions: "The reality of what ecology is demanding (...) is that it's the end of French agriculture."

The same dramatization was seen by Arnaud Rousseau, the head of the FNSEA , who stated in a press release that "the choice is clear: bet on French agriculture with standards equivalent to those of European countries so that we can get by, or impose higher standards and our agriculture will disappear . " A sort of Thatcherite "there is no alternative" (Editor's note: there is no other choice), but in an agricultural version. A first, there too.