PARIS — France will drop strict national controls on pesticide sales in favor of a more lax indicator used in the European Union, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced Wednesday in unveiling further measures to appease restive farmers.
In a second move, France will bar imports of food products containing traces of thiacloprid, a pesticide that is banned in the EU, to ensure that French farmers aren’t put at a disadvantage to foreign competitors, Attal said at a press conference.
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The announcement comes after weeks of demonstrations in France and around Europe where angry farmers have protested against the EU’s green bureaucracy and competition from imports that aren’t subject to the same environmental standards.
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Abandoning the so-called NODU indicator — which uses sales data to calculate average pesticide applications across the country — has been a long-standing demand of French farmers. But this faces opposition from green groups, which have called it outrageous.
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