While she was very close to leaving at the end of July, Monique Barbut now intends to keep her position as Minister of Ecological Transition. After her refused resignation, she sees herself remaining in the government and wants to make this known to her detractors via an interview with Libération published on Sunday.
“I can feel more fragile but not weakened. The articles published in the press this summer do not only come from the opposition… I am not fooled. Some people wish I wasn't here anymore. You will still have to put up with me,” she says in this interview.
Tensions over the agricultural emergency law
After announcing her resignation in July to protest against the adoption of the agricultural emergency law, Monique Barbut ultimately remained in government, ensuring that she had obtained “guarantees” on subjects close to her heart, such as adaptation to climate change.
“I have three main priorities: adaptation, forests and environmental health on which I have made and will make proposals,” she says in the interview. “As long as these subjects move forward”, the question of his future in government “does not arise”.
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu tasked her at the end of July with presenting new measures to him by October to “accelerate” the implementation of the National Plan for adaptation to climate change. “As for financing, State resources being what they are, I would like to explore the possibility of financing via the Caisse des Dépôts from the savings of the French,” indicates Monique Barbut.
Future measures to limit cadmium
She also returns to cadmium, a toxic heavy metal present in the environment and food, for which the government is preparing a decree organizing the reduction in phosphate fertilizers. “I would like us to set a maximum standard of 20 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) by 2030, compared to 90 mg/kg currently,” says Monique Barbut. A faster decline than that envisaged by the Ministry of Agriculture in May, to “40 mg/kg in 2030” and “20 mg/kg” by 2038.
Finally, the minister considers “not surprising” the conclusions of the Constitutional Council, which validated almost the entire agricultural emergency law on Friday, while welcoming “useful” clarifications. Thus, the absence of a decision from ANSES, within the two-month period provided for a request for an exemption from the use of the insecticide acetamiprid, constitutes a decision of refusal. “I will ensure that no pressure is put on ANSES to meet deadlines that are not compatible with the requirements of rigorous scientific expertise,” she also asserts. No reshuffle in sight for the executive on issues related to the environment.
