French President Emmanuel Macron has refused to accept French environment minister Monique Barbut’s resignation today, hours after she announced she would quit over the government’s agricultural emergency law reauthorising two pesticides banned in France but authorised across the European Union.
The reversal capped two days of political turmoil surrounding the legislation, which has exposed divisions inside Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s government and reignited tensions between environmental priorities and farmers’ demands.
Barbut announced this morning that she would resign after accusing the government of reneging on commitments to oppose provisions allowing the possible return of acetamiprid and flupyradifurone.
In a LinkedIn statement, she said the government had prevented parliamentary debate on removing the measure, calling it “one environmental setback too many”.
Only hours later, though, her office announced Macron had rejected her resignation.
According to her office, Barbut agreed to remain in government at the president’s request after he assured her of his support, despite her continued opposition to the final version of the law.
The legislation was definitively approved by parliament yesterday after passing both the National Assembly and the Senate.
The law allows France’s food and environmental safety agency (Anses) to authorise, under strict conditions, the use of acetamiprid and flupyradifurone for a limited number of struggling sectors, including sugar beet and hazelnut producers.
Supporters argue the measure restores competitiveness for French farmers, who have complained for years that France imposes stricter rules than the rest of the EU while allowing imports produced using products unavailable to domestic agriculture. Acetamiprid is the only neonicotinoid still approved across the bloc, where its authorisation runs until February 2033.
The National Assembly session on July 20 stretched late into the night amid exchanges between lawmakers.
The vote also highlighted fractures within Macron’s governing camp. Renaissance group president Gabriel Attal criticised Lecornu’s handling of the legislation, while opposition parties accused the government of relying on support from conservative and right-wing parties to secure the bill’s passage.
The government had initially indicated it would oppose the reintroduction of acetamiprid, a neonicotinoid banned in France. Though ministers ultimately declined to table an amendment removing the provision, following pressure from centre-right senators and agricultural unions.
The government also refused to allow votes on several amendments submitted by members of its own majority seeking to delete the pesticide clause, using the veto it holds at that stage of the procedure.
Macron’s own parliamentary group was divided. Around two-thirds of the governing camp backed the legislation, with 41 abstentions across the chamber.
The legislation ultimately passed with backing from the Right and the National Rally, while much of the Left opposed the pesticide provisions.
It was the third time Barbut had raised the prospect of leaving the government since her appointment in October 2025.
The political turmoil prompted reactions from across the left-wing opposition. Socialist MP Romain Eskenazi said the episode showed the law amounted to a major environmental setback.
La France Insoumise (LFI), the Socialists and the Greens have said they will refer the law to the Constitutional Council, which struck down an equivalent provision in the Duplomb law on August 7, 2025.
