Ecologists and LFI refer Agrilnot law to Constitutional Council

Paris – 24 July 2026: The parliamentary groups of the Ecologists and La France Insoumise have referred the law on protecting and strengthening agricultural sovereignty to the French Constitutional Council. They are challenging key provisions of the text, which was recently definitively adopted by parliament. Their criticism focuses on possible exemptions from the ban on certain plant protection products and on rules governing the expansion of water storage facilities for agriculture.

Following a compromise in the joint committee of both chambers of parliament, the law was adopted by the National Assembly on 20 July 2026 and by the Senate on 21 July 2026. The government justifies the initiative as a means of safeguarding French food production, protecting farms and improving adaptation to climate risks. The legislation also includes provisions on land, livestock farming, trade relations and import controls.

Particularly controversial is a narrowly limited derogation from the general ban on plant protection products belonging to the neonicotinoid group or related substances. According to the account published by the Senate, it is intended to apply only to particularly affected areas of sugar beet, apple, cherry and hazelnut cultivation. Nevertheless, the applicants see it as reopening the door to products whose use is prohibited in France and fear risks to the environment and public health.

A second point of conflict concerns water policy. The law sets the objective of doubling water storage capacity for agricultural use by 2035 and simplifying approval rules. Supporters point to drier summers, crop failures and the need to make farms more resilient. Critics, however, warn that additional storage facilities could intensify competition for an increasingly scarce resource and undermine the protection of water bodies.

The Constitutional Council must now examine whether the challenged provisions are compatible with the Constitution and, in particular, with the requirements of the Environmental Charter. Its decision will be issued before the law is promulgated. It may reject individual articles in full or in part, approve them subject to interpretative guidance, or allow the text to pass in its entirety. Until that ruling, the disputed provisions will not enter into force.

The referral thus prolongs a political and legal dispute that has been ongoing for months over the limits of agricultural deregulation. Supporters of the law emphasize the competitiveness and food security of French agriculture. The Ecologists and LFI counter that ensuring production must not be organized at the expense of environmental and health protection. The Constitutional Council’s decision now gives this conflict a new institutional stage.