“I said good things about pesticides”: after the controversy, the Minister of Agriculture pleads irony

2023-05-27 10:11:54

Should we see an ironic phrase or a real opinion? The question arises around a sequence that is much talked about on social networks. This Friday, journalist Hugo Clément posted a video on Twitter of his media Vakita in which the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, said to an interlocutor present in the corridors of the Senate: “you saw, I said good things about pesticides ».

Faced with the controversy, he tried to react quickly, on the same social network. “The ironic sentence is addressed to one of your colleagues from the Public Senate after the exchange with your media, not upstream (bravo to the editor)”, assures the minister.

Never – ever – attempt to serve its causes through deception or misinformation. They are served with much less authenticity and power.

The ironic sentence is addressed to one of your Public Senate colleagues after the exchange with your media, not in… https://t.co/V3zyd9pGGs

— Marc Fesneau (@MFesneau) May 26, 2023

Accusing Vakita’s journalists of not having wanted to grasp the “second degree” of his remarks, he informed them that it would have been “enough to (…) ask the question” to his interlocutor to know that it was of a joke. “However, it requires doing a good job. To be professional. To be a journalist, in fact, ”tackled the minister.

The reactions quickly flourished on the left of the political spectrum. “We thought we had a Minister of Agriculture. We have a lobbyist for pesticide multinationals, ”tackled LFI deputy François Ruffin in particular.

“You see, I said good things about pesticides! We thought we had a Minister of Agriculture.

We have a multinational pesticide lobbyist.

But the word “lobbying” is too weak. As if to put pressure on Marc Fesneau when…pic.twitter.com/DckkdnQnVk

— François Ruffin (@Francois_Ruffin) May 26, 2023

“To speak well of pesticides, is that a source of pride in itself? Do you serve the general interest or the interest of the chemical industry? asked Nupes-LFI MP Antoine Léaument. “Intensive agriculture and its ravages lend themselves to laughter visibly”, criticized the elected representative of the same party, Aurélie Trouvou.

” You’re lying “

The story did not stop there. A few hours after this tweet, Hugo Clément as well as one of the journalists of his media relayed a longer video of the exchanges of Marc Fesneau at the exit of the Senate. We see the initial sequence of the minister and his polemical sentence. He then briefly discusses with other people before being approached by the Vakita journalist, who then begins his interview – contrary to what Marc Fesneau assured in his tweet. In comment, journalist and activist Hugo Clément accuses the minister of lying.

This filming was linked to a video on intensive agriculture to react to a CNRS study explaining that this practice was the cause of the disappearance of birds in Europe.