Reversal in the National Assembly. In the wake of the vote in favor of maintaining palm oil in the list of biofuels, which caused a veritable outcry, the French deputies backed on Friday, November 15, in the evening, against the advice of the government. Palm oil is, and will remain, excluded from the list of biofuels that benefit from a tax benefit.
By an overwhelming majority (58 to 2), the deputies canceled, during a new deliberation, the effects of the disputed vote of Thursday.
Faced with the scolding of environmentalists, and the embarrassment of his majority, the Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, was mounted in person on Friday, to demand a second vote. In particular, he noted "the lack of sufficient debate on such an important subject", even though the Government was in favor of the amendment.
It is, with the approval of the executive that the Assembly had voted on Thursday, an amendment providing for the postponement to 2026 of the exclusion of palm oil from the list of biofuels.
"We can not support that"
While the government last year voted against the exclusion of palm oil from this advantageous tax system, the adoption of such an amendment was surprising.
The Total group had appealed, but the Constitutional Council had rejected the oil group, saying that the Parliament could completely remove this advantage.
>> To see: In Cameroon, the palm oil of the discord
Friday, the controversy, the government, which has made ecology one of his top priorities, has camped on his positions, calling again to vote in favor of the amendment. But he was disappointed by his own majority.
"This fiscal niche is an accomplice of an ecocide, we can not support that," lashed the former Minister of Environment Delphine Batho, alerting on the disappearance of orangutans. Other members have denounced "a vote on the sly", Thursday.
"This tax niche is directly complicit with an ecocide, we can not support that," says @delphinebatho. Former minister calls for canceling fiscal niche for palm oil used as #Biofuel #Total #DirectAN # PLF2020 pic.twitter.com/w3zjauXUA5
LCP (@LCP) November 15, 2019Climate discourses: "a rhetorical exercise"
Immediately denounced, Thursday's vote was associated with the result of a "shameless lobbying" of Total, which began in early July the operation of an agrofuel refinery in La Mède, near Marseille (south-east).
The site, which employs 250 people, plans to process 650,000 tonnes of oils and fats per year and to source "sustainable and certified" palm oil up to 300,000 tonnes, according to the oil group .
While welcoming the fact that MPs "succeeded in defending the absolute need to protect tropical forests," Greenpeace France denounced the government's support for the controversial amendment, a "nonsense" and "an admission of influence. of Total on the highest level of the state ".
According to the NGO, it "proves that the speeches on the climate emergency are, in the eyes of the government, a rhetorical exercise intended to improve its image".
Epilogue of this day #huiledepalme:
đź‘Ť MPs have defended the obvious: the absolute need to protect forests & biodiversity
đź‘Ž the government has proved the influence of @Total on the highest level of the state, and has thus shown its excellence in climate inaction! pic.twitter.com/4koy02aAMl
"Blackmail at work"
Massively used as a fuel for cosmetics and food, the palm oil industry is accused by conservationists of causing massive deforestation and a threat to the biodiversity of the world's tropical forests. .
The CEO of Total, Patrick Pouyanné, had pleaded his case in late October, asking "to be at the same level of competition as our European competitors who, unlike us, enjoy a tax benefit until 2030".
A request that has not failed to react environmentalists. The association France Nature Environment (FNE) denounced "blackmail employment Total conducted around the factory of La Mède, factory whose legality is debated in court following a complaint".
Denouncing an "environmental disaster" caused, according to her, by the extensive production of palm oil, it said: "every day, thousands of hectares are burned to grow these palm trees, deforesting a large part of the South East Asia and Africa.
With AFP