The antipesticides decree of the mayor of Langouët makes emulators. Despite its suspension, Tuesday, August 27, by the administrative court of Rennes, many mayors have reproduced the example of the Breton, to protect their fellow citizens.

Audincourt, Revest-des-Brousses, Val de Reuil ... "Every day, a mayor takes a new order" says Daniel Cueff, Mayor of Langouët. "As far as I know, we have over thirty in France," he continues, adding that some even call him to ask if his order is free of rights.

On May 18, Daniel Cueff issued an order prohibiting the use of plant protection products "at a distance of less than 150 meters from any cadastral parcel including a building used for residential or professional use". A text suspended three months later by the administrative court of Rennes, seized by the prefect of Ille-et-Vilaine, on the grounds that a mayor is not competent to make decisions on the use of pesticides.

"It's up to us to push"

"What infuriates mayors is that the government is doing nothing and is also preventing mayors from taking action to protect the inhabitants," said Daniel Cueff, who said he received 47,000 messages of support and a Nicolas Hulot's call.

"We support the mayor of Langouët, we must stand together," explained Brigitte Moya, mayor of Aubenas-les-Alpes (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), who took a decree in August.

In the same department, Brigitte Reynaud, mayor of Revest-des-Brousses, did the same. "It's up to us to push for agricultural practices to change," she says.

In the Val-d'Oise, the mayor PCF Pierrelaye, Michel Vallade, has also made an order, even if "I know he will suffer the same fate as my comrade Langouët".

But the elected does not want to leave the farmers. "I also want to protect farm workers so that it does not end like asbestos, I am not against agriculture, it needs dialogue with the actors of agriculture," he said.

In Val-de-Reuil, a municipality of 16,000 inhabitants located in the Eure, Marc-Antoine Jamet (PS), has issued a decree to ban pesticides within 150 meters of the public road, the same day that the Langouet was suspended.

90% of the population for the ban of pesticides

Secretary General of the Association of Mayors of France, the mayor of Sceaux UI (Hauts-de-Seine), Philippe Laurent, also signed an order, because according to him the population is "90% in favor of the ban, even more."

"It's not a sword in the water, it should not be a punctual thing.That's why so many mayors have made such orders," says -he.

Some go even further. Like Bertrand Astric, mayor without label Boussières, in the Doubs. The latter simply banned glyphosate throughout the municipality. "Mayors take things in hand because the state does not do it," he says. "It's a warning cry, I'm an amateur beekeeper, I see bee colonies collapse, biodiversity collapse."

Challenged by the prefectures, all these orders should give rise to legal remedies.

Questioned on the subject, the Ministry of Agriculture indicated that a public consultation was going to be launched "at the beginning of October for six weeks in the prefectures", bringing together all the actors (prefect, farmers, associations, etc ...).

Spraying and spraying "rules" at national level should come out, with the aim of reaching a decree at the beginning of 2020. But locally, local residents, farmers and authorities can also agree on territorial charters more adapted to local realities. .

With AFP