National Assembly approves emergency agriculture bill after heated dispute

Paris – 21 July 2026: The National Assembly adopted the compromise text on the law on the protection and sovereignty of agriculture overnight into Tuesday. A total of 296 lawmakers voted in favor of the measure, 224 voted against it and 41 abstained. The result clears the way for final adoption, which the Senate is due to consider late on the afternoon of Tuesday, 21 July 2026.

The law was negotiated under an accelerated procedure between the two chambers. A joint committee made up of seven members of parliament and seven senators reached a compromise on 16 July. The government says the text is intended to safeguard agricultural production, strengthen producers’ bargaining position and simplify procedures for projects such as water infrastructure, livestock buildings and farmland protection.

The core of the dispute is a provision on plant protection products. It allows the national agency for food, environmental and occupational health and safety, Anses, to authorize exemptions for acetamiprid and flupyradifurone under tightly defined conditions. Both active substances are banned in France but remain authorized at European level. Exemptions are planned only for particularly affected crops, including sugar beet, apples, cherries and hazelnuts.

Supporters of the provision point to the competitive disadvantages faced by French farms compared with producers in other EU countries. Jean-René Cazeneuve, co-rapporteur for the text from the presidential camp, stressed in the chamber that it is not politicians who authorize substances; the scientific safety authority decides on individual, controlled exemptions. The aim is to preserve the general ban while creating limited room for maneuver for specific production sectors.

Left-wing and environmental groups, by contrast, described the compromise as a setback for health and environmental protection. Their criticism was directed not only at the two active substances but also at several provisions on water management. Among other measures, the law is intended to make it easier to store water for agricultural purposes and expand agriculture’s role in local water-management bodies. This link between safeguarding production and deregulation is a defining feature of the parliamentary dispute.

Politically, the narrow result highlights tensions within the government camp. The measure secured a majority, but support was far less unified than for many agricultural policy initiatives backed by the conservative Senate majority. The Senate approved an amended version of the bill at first reading on 2 July by 219 votes to 111. Its approval of the newly negotiated text is considered likely, but had not yet taken place as of the morning of 21 July.

Beyond the pesticide issue, the law includes measures against import competition deemed unfair, to protect agricultural land and to improve incomes along the value chain. It also toughens penalties for theft, damage and unauthorized entry onto agricultural holdings. Whether the exemptions for plant protection products will actually be applied later depends, under the planned framework, on Anses’s scientific assessments and on the respective conditions in individual sectors.