Agriculture: Europe has a good back
Jacques Brachat, Saintry-sur-Seine (Essonne)
It seems curious to me to make the CAP responsible for the difficulties in our agriculture when all of Europe – except France – is recording a trade surplus in this sector. Does this failure of French agriculture not demonstrate on the contrary that we have not adapted as well as our European competitors? To regret the arrival of “hypercompetitive” Spanish tomatoes, Dutch pigs and Polish chickens is to blame the agriculture of said countries for their success (and the presence of an elephant in the room, namely the consumer). (“ Free trade treaties, (too) easy culprits”L’Express of February 1.)
The FNSEA, union or lobby?
Bruno Lonchampt, Dole (Jura)
When the FNSEA comes to put pressure on agricultural high schools to oppose a vegetarian project (because you have to eat meat), when it opposes environmental protection rules, when it wants to continue using products toxic to health, when it defends non-virtuous intensive agriculture, is it not a lobby? When a Prime Minister gives in in panic to this powerful lobby, where is the power? There is not only one possible model of agriculture!!! (“Technos and farmers: how to reconcile them”by Gaspard Koenig, L’Express of February 8.)
Birth rate and fear of the future
Albert Couzan, Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine)
The causes of the decline in the birth rate are multiple: cuts made in “tax benefits” for families by socialist governments; lack of nursery space in a society where all women now work; reduced fertility due to cell phone waves. Curiously, no one mentions the fear of the future that young people feel, which leads them either to flee to other countries, or to refuse to give birth to children who would have to face the thousand cataclysms that leave us catch a glimpse of the news. (“Demography: the number of births does not make History!”), L’Express of January 25.)
IVG and Constitution
Madeleine Gibon, Saumur (Maine-et-Loire)
By bringing abortion into the Constitution, the French government intends to react to the cancellation in 2022 by the American Supreme Court of the guarantee for women of the right to abortion. However, in our country, this right is guaranteed by the Veil law, without having to provide justification. We are also observing an increase in the number of abortions: 234,000 in 2022. Our president recently declared measures for “demographic rearmament” and, at the same time, he wants to “set abortion in stone… inconsistencies! (“Denys de Béchillon: “Do we really want to authorize Parliament to violate the Constitution?“” L’Express of February 8.)
SUV: an insignificant vote
Jean Yves Nathan, Lachelle (Oise)
Less than 6% of voters participated in the consultation on the ban on SUVs in Paris. Shouldn’t there be a minimum voter participation threshold of 25% for a result to be deemed acceptable? This law will once again disrupt Parisian traders and tourism in Paris. (“SUV: Anne Hidalgo’s easy victory”L’Express of February 8.)
Advocacy for energy diagnosis
Dominique Lefèvre, Octeville-sur-Mer (Seine-Maritime)
Your article suggests that the energy performance diagnosis is an implausible technical device. This forgets that the residents of the housing concerned, whose income is often very modest, heat themselves very little. In addition, they use additional systems (wood or oil stove, mobile electric convector) which do not fit into the “visible” energy bill. This is what creates a distortion between the label assigned and actual consumption. It is therefore doubtful to infer that the DPE is biased. (“Housing: DPE, a biased diagnosis”L’Express of January 25.)
Our columnists stand out in the books department
Professor of international relations and columnist for L’Express, Frédéric Encel received the Edouard-Bonnefous/History-Geography Prize from the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences for his work The Ways of Power: thinking about geopolitics in the 21st century, published by Odile Jacob. A book already awarded the Geopolitics Book Prize, under the aegis of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The economist Nicolas Bouzou, who also writes a weekly column in our columns, has just published The civilization of fear – Why and how to maintain confidence in the future, at XO. Two readings that we cannot recommend highly enough, to understand the challenges facing liberal democracies.