Monique Barbut wrote that the conditions for her to remain France's Minister of Ecological Transition no longer existed. A few hours later she handed in her resignation to Emmanuel Macron. The president refused to accept it, and Barbut decided to stay in her post.
The break had come from the passage of an agricultural law allowing the French health agency to exceptionally authorise the use of acetamiprid and flupyradifurone. The two pesticides, permitted under European rules but banned in France, will be allowed for certain struggling crops, including sugar beet, apples, hazelnuts and cherries. Scientists have raised concerns about the effects on pollinators; acetamiprid had been banned in France partly for its role in harming bees and other insects.
Barbut argued that the text violated the precautionary principle and had called its passage one environmental defeat too many. After meeting with Macron and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, however, she obtained reassurances on other files: climate adaptation, reducing cadmium in food, and oversight of PFAS. The government and the minister thus agreed to disagree on the law.
Barbut remains opposed to the reintroduction of the pesticides, but concluded she could have greater impact by staying inside the executive. Within a matter of hours she went from announcing her resignation to sitting in the cabinet meeting.
Macron cannot formally compel a minister to continue against her own will. He can, however, refuse to accept the political gesture by which she asks to leave. Barbut tried to quit the government to protect the bees, and in the end stayed to try to protect them from within.
