Decryption. “There was a crystallization”: why the petition against the Duplomb law will be a landmark
The Constitutional Council will deliver its decision Thursday on the Duplomb Law, which has attracted more than two million signatures on the National Assembly's website. This unprecedented protest could have political consequences.
The petition against the Duplomb law has collected more than two million signatures. Photo Sipa/ZUMA/Matthieu Mirville
There will be a before and after. For the first time, a petition launched by a student , who disagrees with the adoption of the Duplomb law, has surpassed two million signatures on the National Assembly website . Never before has an online protest of this kind, which requires confirmation of one's identity, been so popular. Relayed by figures from the worlds of culture and the media, she considers this law to be "a scientific, ethical, environmental and health aberration" and "a dangerous act." The Constitutional Council will give its decision on the text on Thursday .
Attal targeted and criticizedWell before the text was posted online, the uproar within society was felt by the political class. The digital tool for questioning elected officials, "Shake your policy," created by the association Générations Futures, was used more than 300,000 times regarding this law, which is highly unusual. Among the elected officials targeted is Gabriel Attal . The former Prime Minister, now president of the Macronist group in the Assembly, was also directly attacked on social media. This forced him to justify himself at length in an Instagram post , 48 hours after the vote.
"The success of this petition has a long history. It is due to a series of frustrations following setbacks on the environment. Suddenly, several scattered movements came together around this petition. There was a crystallization, in the same way that an electorate suddenly crystallizes before an important vote," analyzes François Veillerette. The spokesperson for Générations Futures notes that the anger surrounding the Duplomb law has gone beyond environmental defenders. It has become a political marker, which will be a landmark and which could have consequences in future campaigns, particularly the presidential election.
This success embarrasses the executive. The Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genevard , who strongly favors the text, waited until the petition exceeded 1.5 million signatures to react and affirm that the government was open to dialogue. It is already a given that a debate, without a vote, will take place in the hemicycle at the beginning of the school year. But among the deputies or in the associative field, no one really doubts that the Duplomb law, if it is not invalidated by the Constitutional Council, will be promulgated.
Politically, what could the consequences be? Opposition to the law transcends party lines: 41% of Renaissance voters (the Macronist party) and 42% of RN voters are against the law, as are 61% of French people in general (*). The fault line is primarily generational. "A two-million-dollar petition is a thorn in the government's side anyway," insists François Veillerette. "Just one more."
“A form of revolt against representative democracy”
The success of the petition against the Duplomb law stems from a lack of legitimacy on the part of the government, combined with the sensitivity of environmental issues, believes Luc Rouban of Cevipof-Sciences Po.
How can we interpret the incredible success of this petition?
"The first explanation is that it concerns environmental protection, a subject that has become highly sensitive. There is a strong public expectation for protective measures, especially since we are talking about phytosanitary products that can have a direct impact on human health. The feeling that the government is abandoning its defense of ecology is provoking a political reaction. But there is also a form of revolt against representative democracy. The government is considered legitimate by about a third of the electorate, with a very low level of trust. We are, in fact, still in the aftermath of the yellow vest crisis: a desire for direct democracy, to bypass professional politicians to defend convictions."
"Old-fashioned politics is dead."The unions have also launched a petition, this time against François Bayrou's budget proposals...
"Because the unions see that the political situation is deadlocked . A large part of public opinion thinks that the left won the legislative elections in 2024, and feels betrayed. They want to protest against what they consider to be a form of denial of democracy: budget cuts on public services, on health, without touching taxes. And that is also linked to the weakness of the left, which has become almost inaudible on economic and social issues. This is pushing the unions to intervene to regain control of these issues."
Should we give the people their say again through legislative elections, a presidential election or a referendum?
"It's a complex question, because we're actually at an impasse. Direct democracy applies well to specific, local projects, but not to the environment, which combines scientific, technological, and socio-professional issues. Afterwards, it's true that everyone is waiting for this return to the people. We imagine that in 2027, we'll turn the page and the situation will become clear, with a return to old-fashioned political life. But old-fashioned political life is dead, and a presidential election won't change much. I'm seeing a form of distancing in public opinion from all these electoral games: the center of gravity for citizens is no longer political life, it's the private sphere. So we can reorganize things at the local level, but at the national level, it seems increasingly complicated to me. We overestimate the power of elections as a means of deciding, of reestablishing social and political harmony in France."
To read: The reasons for distrust , by Luc Rouban (Presses de Sciences Po).
Interview by Francis Brochet
(*) Cluster 17 survey for Génération Écologie. Study carried out on July 23 and 24 on a sample of 1,522 people.
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