Paris (AFP)

In the aftermath of marches across France to demand a "real climate law", the deputies are looking Monday on a text whose presidential majority defends the "balance" but which is castigated by environmentalists for its "lack of ambition".

"For a real climate law Stop the blah": some 110,000 people, according to the organizers, demonstrated Sunday in 150 cities at the call of NGOs, unions, parties and members of the Citizen's Convention for the climate.

After this pressure, the law promises three weeks of agitated discussions at the Palais Bourbon.

More than 7,000 amendments have been tabled and the meeting promises to be highlights with hotly debated measures such as the abolition of domestic flights in the event of alternatives of less than 2 hours 30 by train, or the ban on the rental of strainers. thermal in 2028 (F and G).

The right, which is trying to build its own ecological software "on the ground" for 2022, intends to step up to the niche against "punitive ecology" and the "judicialization" of environmental issues, in particular by opposing the new offense "d 'ecocide'.

The left and green elected officials like Delphine Batho and Matthieu Orphelin, on the other hand, will relay the disappointment of the Citizen's Climate Convention, whose work inspired the bill but was "unraveled" according to them.

"Yes, the debates will be lively and that's good, it's important" at a time when "the health crisis takes precedence over everything", notes the general rapporteur Jean-René Cazeneuve (LREM).

- "Ecotax"?

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In committee, the deputies reinforced certain measures, such as the development of bulk in supermarkets, and watered down others, such as the article suggesting the development of the deposit for glass bottles which raises the concern of recyclers and the spirits sector.

Several key debates were returned to the meeting, pending delivery of reports and assessments.

The majority promises "progress" on the thermal renovation of housing with a "financial trajectory" and "accompanying" measures, in the wake of the recent Sichel report.

The government is offering a partial loan guarantee system (called "advance transfer") to facilitate access to credit for low-income households wishing to renovate their homes.

Measures in favor of cycling, including the extension of the conversion premium, are also expected.

As for the advertising component, MEPs could define more precisely the “greenwashing” of companies, in order to better sanction it.

For vegetarian menus in canteens, a subject that has recently been controversial, Matignon obviously does not want to go beyond the simple "experimentation" of a daily vegetarian choice in voluntary communities, provided for in the text, according to reports. parliamentary sources.

Within a majority torn between its liberal wing and a more environmentally friendly fringe, the Minister of Ecological Transition Barbara Pompili defends a path of "crest" between "ecological ambition" and "social acceptability".

On France Inter, the minister, ex-EELV and on the left wing of the majority with her party In Common, assured Sunday that the text would remain as "one of the greatest laws of the five-year term".

"The change of dimension, we will see it in all moments of our life", she added, while saying to continue to "fight to have the most ambitious measures possible".

The LREM deputies keep in mind the crisis of "yellow vests", born of a tax on fuels, or the sling of "red caps" against the ecotax heavy goods vehicles, under François Hollande.

This caution was visible in committee on sensitive measures such as the gradual elimination of the tax advantage of diesel for road carriers by 2030, or the possible establishment of a regional eco-tax for heavy goods vehicles in communities that wish.

It is "not an ecotax", but a "specific contribution" demanded by certain regions in a logic of "differentiation", we insist in the majority, by listing the "stages" before its possible implementation.

But the "subject is likely to rise", agrees Marie Lebec, responsible for ensuring that the balance of the LREM group on this text is respected and who is delighted with a "peaceful debate" so far.

© 2021 AFP