Agricultural anger has been there. Under pressure, the government revised its copy and rewrote the agricultural orientation and future bill (PLOOA), a campaign promise from Emmanuel Macron, reiterated in September 2022 and considered a highlight of his second five year term. After long consultations and numerous postponements, the revised text, now called “Guideline bill for agricultural sovereignty and generational renewal in agriculture”, should be presented to the Council of Ministers on Friday March 29. Parliament should then take it up on May 13.
The government submitted its bill to the Council of State at the end of February and held discussions with agricultural representatives on this subject. If this text does not prejudge the final version – it could be amended following its examination by the administrative court – it nevertheless gives clear signs of its orientations.
First observation: the new version has been completed compared to the version that the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, was to present in January, even if it maintains the initial objective of meeting two major challenges, that of climate change and of the preservation of biodiversity, on the one hand, and that of the renewal of generations, on the other.
She also does not fail to point out that in ten years, a third of farmers will be of retirement age. Without, however, setting an objective for the number of installations. The new articles complement the provisions for training future farmers and strengthening support for transmissions and installations already presented.
“The defense of the fundamental interests of the nation”
From now on, it is food sovereignty which is required as a preamble to the bill which must “establish this imperative as one of the strategic priorities of our public policies”. During the inauguration of the Agricultural Show on February 24, Mr. Macron pledged to ” recognize [l’]agriculture and [l’]food as a major general interest of the French nation. This will be enshrined in law. This will protect [l’]agriculture [de la France] in a firm and solid manner.
This is done in article 1 which stipulates “agriculture, fishing, aquaculture and food are of major general interest as they guarantee food sovereignty, which contributes to the defense of the fundamental interests of the nation”.
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