“Criminal”, “disastrous”, “total misinterpretation”… The announcement of the suspension of the Ecophyto plan to calm the anger of farmers, on 1er February, sparked a wave of indignation among environmentalists and the left, and among environmental defense organizations as well as associations of residents of agro-industrial farms. But can the government ” pause “ this plan, the latest version of which, still under discussion, aimed to reduce the use of pesticides by 50% by 2030 compared to the 2015-2017 period? Several lawyers specializing in environmental law strongly doubt this.
This announcement comes up against a court decision which is binding on the government. In a judgment rendered on June 29, 2023the Paris administrative court ordered the executive to take all useful measures to achieve the objectives of reducing the use of phytosanitary products provided for by the Ecophyto plans. “This pause is in total contradiction with this judgment. Pausing a court decision is not possible, even by the government”comments Dorian Guinard, lecturer in public law at Grenoble-Alpes University and member of Biodiversity under our feet, one of the five organizations (with Pollinis, Our business to all, the Association for the protection of wild animals and the ‘National Association for the Protection of Waters and Rivers) at the origin of the action filed against the State for “culpable deficiencies”.
If there should be a break, it should then be of (very) short duration. The administrative judge in fact set an ultimatum for the State: he gave it until June 30 to “repair the ecological damage, prevent the worsening of the damage by restoring consistency in the rate of reduction in the use of plant protection products with the trajectory planned by the Ecophyto and (…) restore and protect groundwater against the impacts of plant protection products”.
The government appealed the judgment (without suspensive effect). He insists on the failure of successive Ecophyto plans. Launched in 2008 in the wake of the Grenelle Environment Forum, the first plan already aimed to reduce the use of herbicides, fungicides and other insecticides by 50% in ten years. As no reduction was really initiated in 2015, the plan was converted into the Ecophyto II plan, postponing the deadline to 2025. In 2018, it was the turn of the Ecophyto II + plan to take over, this time setting the horizon of a reduction by half in 2030 and an exit from glyphosate ” at the latest “ in 2022. As the objective is still untenable given current trajectories, the government put the Ecophyto 2030 plan out for consultation, maintaining the objective of a reduction by half in 2030, but this time compared to the 2015-2017 average. , rather than the 2009-2011 average, taken as a reference by previous plans.
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