In Marseille, Macron and Hulot oppose the government’s green budget

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DISAGREEMENTS – For his third day in Marseille, Emmanuel Macron performed on Friday September 3 a sea trip, off the Calanques, to talk about the plastics scourge at sea and the protection of biodiversity.

A few hours before his speech to the World Conservation Congress (IUCN), which opens in France’s second city on Friday, September 3, the Head of State boarded the sailboat of the NGO 7th Continent Expedition. , founded by the navigator Patrick Deixonne, in the company of Nicolas Hulot and the Minister of the Environment Barbara Pompili.

Main message from the NGO and Nicolas Hulot, former Minister of the Environment who had slammed the government door in 2018: it is pointless to spend millions on shipments to collect a few tens of kilos of plastic, whereas 30 million tonnes of it are poured into the oceans per year. Better to prevent and invest in research and prevent new arrivals.

“We must act on tomorrow”

“What is in the ocean will stay there, we must act on tomorrow, we cannot act on the past. To say that you can pick up plastic with a teaspoon is nonsense. We have to stop this ranting, ”Nicolas Hulot told him.

“0.25% of the recovery plan devoted to biodiversity is not enough,” said Nicolas Hulot, a message that he wants to convey during his lunch then scheduled with the president and several involved actors. in the preservation of biodiversity.

Asked about these criticisms and this figure in particular, Emmanuel Macron replied: “I will send him all the details and ask Barbara Pompili (the current Minister of Ecological Transition, editor’s note) to give him, because it is much more. the whole mechanization plan of the agricultural plan is for biodiversity ”.

He added: “The money we give our farmers to use fewer pesticides, for example, is money for biodiversity”.

Measures are taken to ban new plastic objects, including from January 1, the packaging of lots of fruits and vegetables weighing less than 1.5 kilograms – which is often the case for organic products, underlined an advisor from the Presidency.

“We all want you to take the leadership”

After being presented with the protection operations of the Calanques National Park, Emmanuel Macron “transhipped”, in the open sea, to the Alfred Merlin, the new boat of the Ministry of Culture dedicated to marine archeology, where he found several conservationists and sailors.

“We all want you to take the leadership to defend the big blue. We could reconnect with the tradition of Richelieu and Colbert to once again become a great maritime nation ”, pleaded sailor Maud Fontenoy.

“Europe will also be reborn from the sea. The EU should be made the champion of green ships,” added Catherine Chabaud, sailor and MEP.