France passes agricultural emergency law amid NGO constitutional challenge

The French Parliament approved an agricultural emergency law with an absolute majority of 296 deputies. The 78‑article text emphasizes food sovereignty and includes measures such as allowing water reserves on plots under three hectares, tighter controls on the insecticides fluopyralifurone and acetamipride, and provisions for night‑vision equipment to combat predation.

Eight environmental NGOs, including Générations Futures, the LPO, France Nature Environnement and WWF, have filed external contributions to the Constitutional Council. They contest three key provisions: the re‑authorisation of acetamipride and flupyradifurone, the doubling of agricultural water‑storage capacity that could enable new basins, and the easing of rules for expanding intensive livestock farms. The NGOs argue the law breaches the constitutional environmental charter and EU law. A delayed government report on water‑pollution, released after the vote, was also highlighted by the NGOs.

The law’s passage and the subsequent legal challenge underscore a growing tension between France’s agricultural sector and environmental groups over water management, pesticide use and farm intensification.