In his next interactions with the professional association of pesticide manufacturers, will the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, find himself facing his former chief of staff? As the online newspaper revealed contextthe person concerned leaves the bosom of the former Minister Delegate for Relations with Parliament to join Phyteis (formerly known as the Union of Industries for the Protection of Plants), the lobby of agrochemical companies.
Phyteis confirms to Monde the arrival of Eléonore Leprettre as Director of Communications and Public Affairs, from 1is June. Also a regional councilor (MoDem) in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur since 2016, she had been working with Mr. Fesneau since October 2018. She did not respond to requests from the Monde.
The High Authority for the transparency of public life (HATVP) was seized on April 26 of the request of Mme Leprettre to leave the public service for the main organization of the pesticide lobby, that is to say immediately after the re-election of Emmanuel Macron. The HATVP issued a favorable opinion on May 16. This has not been made public, but the usual reservations formulated by the authority generally prohibit, for a period of two to three years, any public official who has converted to the private sector from intervening with his former administration or his former colleagues, as long as they belong to the public service.
Objective not met
Phyteis will play a key role for its member companies in the coming months. While the deleterious effects of pesticides on health and the environment are increasingly documented by scientists, the Brussels strategy known as “Farm to Fork” has set a very ambitious reduction in the use of these products by European agriculture: 50% reduction by 2030.
An ambition that is all the more fragile since during the campaign, Emmanuel Macron has already estimated, without further details, that these European objectives for the greening of agriculture should be “adapted” to take account of the war in Ukraine. Until now, the national objective, set in 2008 by the Ecophyto plan, has aimed to halve the use of pesticides in ten years. Not only has this objective not been met, but the use of these products has increased since the launch of the plan.
The departure of M.me Leprettre for Phyteis is not an isolated case, in the party of the President of the Republic, of retraining in agro-industry. Mickaël Nogal, MP (LRM) for Haute-Garonne, had announced during his mandate, which he ended on 1is March, his hiring at the general direction of the National Association of Food Industries. Contacted, Mr. Nogal explains that he has only returned to his sector of origin and ensures that he has “deported” food-related topics during his tenure. And this despite having supported amendments in connection with these subjects.
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