This summer, after months of attacks on environmental advocates and setbacks in the Assemblée Nationale, France’s political class found itself caught off guard. First came the success of a petition demanding the repeal of a law reauthorizing banned pesticides, which has collected 2,125,934 signatures to date. Then, on August 7, France’s Constitutional Council blocked the reintroduction of acetamiprid, a banned pesticide from the neonicotinoid family. Finally, a severe heat wave swept much of France while wildfires raged across Europe, dominating media coverage. A timely reminder of public concern and yet another warning from the planet itself.
Has this put environmental issues back at the center of French political debate? “Recent events have brought environmental challenges back into the spotlight,” said the office of Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the French environment minister. “But given the current context, it is hard to know what state of mind everyone will be in when they return. Will this give us momentum to make progress, or will it just be a flash in the pan that fizzles out before autumn?”
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