Lyon (AFP)

The Minister of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie, announced on Sunday that he was seizing the prefect of the Rhône on the issue of meatless menus imposed by the ecological town hall of Lyon in school canteens due to health constraints.

"Let's stop putting ideology on our children's plates!", He denounced on Twitter, adding: "Let's just give them what they need to grow well. Meat is part of it. J seized the prefect of the Rhône ".

"In addition to the unacceptable insult to French farmers and butchers, it is clear that the moralist and elitist policy of the + Greens + excludes the working classes. Many children often only have the canteen to eat meat", had the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, already tweeted on Saturday evening, denouncing a "scandalous ideology".

His colleague from the Public Accounts, Olivier Dussopt, castigated him "an anti-social and doctrinaire choice".

"I am always in favor of leaving the choice to the students. It should not be an ideological decision", declared for his part the spokesman of the government, Gabriel Attal, interviewed during the program Le Grand Jury RTL -Le Figaro-LCI.

The town hall of Lyon explains its choice by the need to respect, at the request of the National Education, a distance of two meters between the children in the canteen, which amounts to feeding fewer students at the same time.

The use of a single menu - without meat but including eggs and fish - aims to streamline the service so that all meals can be served during the meridian break.

Before swelling in the government, the controversy was triggered this week by the right-wing opposition in Lyon, while the students return to school on Monday in the capital of the Gauls.

The EELV mayor, Grégory Doucet, responded by recalling that a similar measure had been taken last spring under the former mandate, in the face of health constraints, without causing controversy at the time.

"We did not hear you say these words to Gérard Collomb, a member of your political family who had taken exactly the same measure during the first wave" of Covid-19, he replied on Twitter to Mr. Darmanin, adding: "Continue to be in the posture, you are only masking your lack of background".

"That the right, which allied with my predecessor (Gérard Collomb, Editor's note) at the time of the municipal elections, shouts at ideology today makes me smile," Mr. Doucet had already reacted on Friday on franceinfo.

Senator LR Bruno Retailleau or LREM MP Aurore Bergé also criticized the Lyon measure on Twitter.

Farmers are due to demonstrate on Monday in front of Lyon City Hall at the call of certain unions (FDSEA and JA du Rhône).

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