A petition launched in July 2025 by a student gathered over 2 million signatures against the Duplomb law, promulgated in August 2025. This success prompted the National Assembly to schedule a debate on February 11, 2026, a first in the history of the Fifth Republic. Yet, the discussion will not include a new vote or amendments to the legislation.
The petition demanding the repeal of the Duplomb law was started on July 10, 2025, by Eléonore Pattery, a 23-year-old student, on the National Assembly's website. In less than three weeks, it amassed over 2 million signatures, prompting the economic affairs commission to schedule a discussion on February 11, 2026, in the Hemicycle.
The Duplomb law, promulgated in August 2025, aims to ease constraints on the farming profession. It eases the setup of intensive livestock farms and irrigation reservoirs, prevents the banning of pesticides without alternatives, and allows pesticide sellers to advise farmers, overturning provisions from the 2017 Labbé law and the 2018 EGAlim law. A clause permitting the return of acétamipride, an insecticide banned since 2020, was struck down by the Constitutional Council. On February 2, 2026, Senator Laurent Duplomb (Les Républicains, Haute-Loire) submitted a new bill to reinstate this pesticide.
This debate, though historic, remains symbolic. As political scientist Simon Persico notes, 'the exercise resembles a rather symbolic lap, which risks breeding disillusionment, just like the national great debate in 2019 and other participation tools that were not followed by effects.' Biologist Marc-André Selosse, a professor at the National Museum of Natural History, criticizes the law in an op-ed as 'outdated, ignorant of technical evolution, with colossal financial and human costs.' He references the Agrican study, which indicates a 50% increase in lymphomas among farmers exposed to pesticides, and heightened risks of Alzheimer's disease.
Historically, the petition has been recognized as a political right since the French Revolution, enshrined in the 1791 Constitution and the 1793 Declaration of the Rights of Man. According to political scientist Antoine Gonthier, it complements representative democracy by enabling citizens to intervene in public affairs for the general interest.
