In Gennevilliers, the confirmation by the justice of the anti-pesticides decree taken by the mayor was greeted with great satisfaction. Like their representative, the majority of the inhabitants are opposed to the use of pesticides in their commune. To the point that some are already dreaming that the decision of the Administrative Court of Cergy-Pontoise is a precedent.

REPORTAGE

This is a great victory for Patrice Leclerc, the mayor of Gennevilliers, in the Hauts-de-Seine. Its anti-pesticide decree taken last May was confirmed, like that of the town hall of Sceaux, by the administrative court of Cergy-Pontoise, this Friday, in the name of the "grave danger for the populations exposed" to these products. This is a first in France.

"We took this decree for two reasons," says the councilor at the microphone of Europe 1. "First in Gennevilliers, pesticides are used on the railway, and can also be used by condominiums as part of There is also a political reason: it is a support for all the other mayors in rural areas who are surrounded by fields where there is a spread of these products that are dangerous for the health of farmers, and the population ".

"Pesticides, it rhymes with health problems!"

In this very urban city, a communist bastion since the end of the war, the ecological concern seems to be very present among the inhabitants: it is enough to walk around to see that the shared and organic gardens are multiplying between the buildings. And just ask the Gennevillois what they think to be convinced. "Pesticides - it's a big bad habit that farmers took," says a resident. "Pesticides, it rhymes with health problems! That politicians are banning the prohibition in a law, it allows us to feel respected in our concerns," says another. "It's good, but it's not enough! We must go further," says another man crossed at the corner of a street.

A long road to jurisprudence

Inhabitants and mayor almost unanimously push behind this ban and even hope that the decision of the Administrative Court of Cergy-Pontoise will be precedent. But the road is still long: the confirmation of the decree can be challenged on appeal, then in cassation. Especially since last October 25, the administrative court of Rennes announced the cancellation of the decree of May 18 taken by the mayor of Langouët, which prohibited the use of synthetic pesticides within 150 meters of dwellings. this Breton town.