French President Emmanuel Macron has refused to accept the resignation of environment minister Monique Barbut, who offered to step down after parliament passed a controversial agricultural emergency law that temporarily reinstates the use of certain pesticides she had opposed. The law was definitively adopted by the Senate on 21 July by 214 votes to 111, bringing a turbulent end to the parliamentary session for the government.

The legislation, initially promised by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to farmers in January, addresses what supporters describe as several urgent priorities: water management, predator control, and access to production tools. Its most contentious provision allows France's health and safety agency, Anses, to grant temporary exemptions — within a two-month window and on an exceptional basis — permitting the use of two pesticides, acetamiprid and flupyradifurone, which belong to a class known as neonicotinoids. Though banned in France due to their known neurotoxic effects, both substances remain legal under European Union rules. Farmers in the hazelnut and sugar beet sectors argued that without access to these products, they cannot compete with neighbouring countries. A previous attempt to reintroduce acetamiprid had been struck down by France's Constitutional Council.

The law also contains a divisive chapter on water governance, including plans to double agricultural water storage capacity by 2035 — through the construction of large reservoirs — and changes to the oversight of water management agencies. Critics view the reservoirs as an effective privatisation of an increasingly scarce resource, arguing farmers would be better served by adapting to drought-resistant crops. The legislation further reforms regulations around livestock buildings and wolf protection.

Opponents on the left were fierce in their condemnation and announced they would refer the law to the Constitutional Council. Socialist MP Mélanie Thomin argued that placing Anses under the authority of the agriculture minister compromised its scientific independence, while Green senator Daniel Salmon called the text