PARIS – In a high-profile move that lays bare deep divisions over France’s environmental and agricultural policy, Monique Barbut, the country’s Minister for Ecological Transition, has announced her resignation in protest of emergency legislation that carves out temporary legal exemptions for two restricted pesticides widely linked to harm in bee populations.
Barbut, who assumed her cabinet role just nine months ago in October 2023, confirmed she would formally submit her resignation to President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday. The controversial bill, which was approved by French national legislators on Tuesday, grants France’s public health agency for food, environment and occupational safety the authority to approve limited use of the two neonicotinoid-derived pesticides — acetamiprid and flupyradifurone — for agricultural sectors facing acute production challenges.
In a public statement shared via social media, Barbut framed her tenure as a fight for underrepresented environmental priorities. “Over the past nine months, I have defended those who do not march, who do not vote, and who do not shout: the silence of our forests, the quality of our water, the purity of our air, the richness of our soils, and the diversity of life,” she wrote. “Today, I must acknowledge that the forces opposing these goals have become so powerful that I no longer have the means to carry this ambition through.”
The two pesticides at the center of the debate fall under the neonicotinoid class of agrochemicals. While they are permitted under broad European Union regulatory frameworks, France has enforced a full national ban on their use for years. The new exemptions will allow their application on four high-value crops: sugar beets, apples, hazelnuts, and cherries.
Barbut added that the government had blocked all attempts to amend or debate the pesticide exemption provision, breaking explicit commitments made to her when she took office. This political clash comes exactly one year after France’s Constitutional Court struck down a similar provision in a broader agricultural reform bill that would have reauthorized acetamiprid. The pesticide has been banned nationwide since 2018, after research confirmed its toxic impact on bees and other critical pollinator species. In its 2023 ruling, the high court found the proposed reauthorization violated legal obligations to protect the environment and the interests of future generations, setting the stage for the current standoff.