The program of the day is loaded for Elisabeth Borne. Arriving this Monday morning at Porte de Versailles, she should spend several hours at the Agricultural Show, two days after Emmanuel Macron’s long stroll. A visit that began with the stand dedicated to Overseas Territories, where the Prime Minister was accompanied by the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau.
Elisabeth Borne notably announced “a plan for the development of alternatives for the most important phytosanitary products”, assuring farmers of state support while affirming that there was no question of “repeating the mistakes of chlordecone” . “In concrete terms, this means seeking to identify new uses, new tools and new products to better protect crops – while preserving our biodiversity,” said the Prime Minister at the Agricultural Show.
“I want to be clear: in terms of phytosanitary products, we will now respect the European framework and nothing but the European framework,” said Elisabeth Borne, while in recent years France has chosen to ban certain substances that are harmful to the environment. environment, but which were still authorized within the European Union.
“We will not create any regulatory distortions for our producers, except in cases of force majeure, when public health is threatened,” she added.
“Our approach is grounded in science and the advice of scientists. This is the method we apply to all products. The other cardinal point is that we do not compromise with public health. No one here wants to repeat the mistakes of chlordecone, “she said, referring to the powerful pesticide used until 1993 in French banana plantations in the West Indies and the cause of many cancers.
In the afternoon, Élisabeth Borne then went to several regional stands, including that of Normandy, where she was elected MP last June. Adaptation to climate change, income and inflation, energy costs but also the organic crisis, crop insurance and the problem of phytosanitary products were on the menu of discussions.
The head of government then took part in a round table with ecological planning stakeholders, during which she once again clarified the outlines of the pesticide plan announced by Emmanuel Macron on Saturday. She then ended her visit with a meeting with the breeders.
This is Elisabeth Borne’s first visit to the Salon de l’Agriculture since her appointment at Matignon. The only woman to have held the post of Prime Minister before her, Edith Cresson (1991-1992), was previously Minister of Agriculture (1981-1983), under the presidency of François Mitterrand.
