The French National Assembly on Saturday approved the creation of an "ecocide" offence as part of a battery of measures aimed at protecting the environment and tackling climate change.

The ecocide measure was passed by 44 votes to 10 in the lower house of parliament and will, if it becomes law, apply to "the most serious cases of environmental damage at national level", said Environment Minister Barbara Pompili.

Transgressors will be liable to up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 4.5 million euros ($5.4 million).

Pompili stressed that the draft bill is aimed at national events, such as the pollution of a French river.

"When we think of the attacks on the Amazon rainforest, that is not something we can tackle within our own laws," she said.

The aim is to strengthen the sanctions available to deal with "serious and durable" cases of intentional pollution of water, air or soil.

Some right-wing MPs complained about moves towards "punitive ecology. Julien Aubert of the Republicans voiced the "serious concerns" of companies facing "legal insecurity" created by such environmental justice measures.

MPs on the left judged the offence being debated insufficient to tackle the problem, highlihting that it will only apply in cases of intentional pollution and not to problems caused by negligence or recklessness.

Some opposition members complained that the very term "ecocide" was an "abuse of language", preferring a more straightforward offence of "attacking the environment".

The Assembly also gave the green light to an offence of endangering the environment, on the model of endangering life, punishable by three years in prison and a 300,000 euro &nbsp;fine. The amount of a whole series of fines provided for by articles of the Environmental Code may also go up to 100,000 euros.

The entire draft bill will go to the Assembly for a vote next month before heading to the upper house Senate.

The French National Assembly on Saturday approved the creation of an "ecocide" offence as part of a battery of measures aimed at protecting the environment and tackling climate change.

The French National Assembly on Saturday approved the creation of an "ecocide" offence as part of a battery of measures aimed at protecting the environment and tackling climate change. The ecocide measure was passed by 44 votes to 10 in the lower house of parliament and will, if it becomes law, apply to "the most serious cases of environmental damage at national level", said Environment Minister Barbara Pompili. Transgressors will be liable to up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 4.5 million euros ($5.4 million). Pompili stressed that the draft bill is aimed at national events, such as the pollution of a French river. "When we think of the attacks on the Amazon rainforest, that is not something we can tackle within our own laws," she said. The aim is to strengthen the sanctions available to deal with "serious and durable" cases of intentional pollution of water, air or soil. Some right-wing MPs complained about moves towards "punitive ecology. Julien Aubert of the Republicans voiced the "serious concerns" of companies facing "legal insecurity" created by such environmental justice measures. MPs on the left judged the offence being debated insufficient to tackle the problem, highlihting that it will only apply in cases of intentional pollution and not to problems caused by negligence or recklessness. Some opposition members complained that the very term "ecocide" was an "abuse of language", preferring a more straightforward offence of "attacking the environment". The Assembly also gave the green light to an offence of endangering the environment, on the model of endangering life, punishable by three years in prison and a 300,000 euro fine. The amount of a whole series of fines provided for by articles of the Environmental Code may also go up to 100,000 euros. The entire draft bill will go to the Assembly for a vote next month before heading to the upper house Senate.

France approves 'ecocide' offence to punish environmental damage

In an unusual move, France&#39;s foreign ministry on Friday issued a pointed fact-check of Donald Trump&#39;s claims about the UN&#39;s Paris climate agreement.

The ministry issued a tweet with an embedded link to a video that amounted to a wry but very public rebuttal of Trump&#39;s assertions.

On Thursday, the White House had tweeted, &quot;The Paris Accord is a bad deal for Americans,&quot; and linked to a video which said the agreement &quot;undermines&quot; US competitiveness and jobs, was &quot;badly negotiated&quot; by former president Barack Obama and &quot;accomplishes little.&quot;

In its response (https://tinyurl.com/y9vs8775), the foreign ministry tweeted, &quot;We&#39;ve seen the @WhiteHouse video about the #ParisAccord. We disagree -- so we&#39;ve changed it.&quot;

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
We&rsquo;ve seen the <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse">@WhiteHouse</a> video about the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParisAccord?src=hash">#ParisAccord</a>. We disagree &ndash; so we&rsquo;ve changed it. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MakeThePlanetGreatAgain?src=hash">#MakeThePlanetGreatAgain</a>. <a href="https://t.co/8A92MBwe6c">pic.twitter.com/8A92MBwe6c</a>
&mdash; France Diplomacy???? (@francediplo_EN) <a href="https://twitter.com/francediplo_EN/status/870699642509512704">June 2, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Its own video uses the same format -- background, font, images and music -- as the White House version but adds facts to debunk the White House claims.

It refers, for example, to major companies such as Exxonmobil and Microsoft which &quot;disagree&quot; that the accord will &quot;undermine&quot; US jobs, and quotes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on the urgent need to fight carbon emissions.

The tweet includes a now-popular hashtag &quot;make our planet great again&quot; -- a cheeky adaptation of the nationalist slogan used by Trump on his election campaign trail.

The video is also notable for being in English. France is famous for championing the use of the French language, and its leaders are always under pressure to speak only in French, even if they are fluent in English, when they are in the public arena.

But newly-elected president Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old former banker, has made a point of speaking in English, apparently seeking to make direct contact with a wider audience.

On Thursday, he released a video in English as well as French in which he criticised Trump for pulling out of the Paris accord and coined the &quot;Make our planet great again&quot; slogan.

He also invited American scientists, businesspeople and citizens who are frustrated by the White House&#39;s stance to &quot;come and work here with us&quot; on finding a solution to the climate crisis.

&quot;They will find in France a second homeland,&quot; Macron said.&nbsp;

His remarks were retweeted more than 140,000 times and &quot;liked&quot; by more than a quarter of a million users, according to Twitter figures as of Friday afternoon. 
 
(AFP) 
&nbsp;

France's foreign ministry on Friday issued a pointed fact-check of Donald Trump's claims about the UN's Paris climate agreement

In an unusual move, France's foreign ministry on Friday issued a pointed fact-check of Donald Trump's claims about the UN's Paris climate agreement. The ministry issued a tweet with an embedded link to a video that amounted to a wry but very public rebuttal of Trump's assertions. On Thursday, the White House had tweeted, "The Paris Accord is a bad deal for Americans," and linked to a video which said the agreement "undermines" US competitiveness and jobs, was "badly negotiated" by former president Barack Obama and "accomplishes little." In its response (https://tinyurl.com/y9vs8775), the foreign ministry tweeted, "We've seen the @WhiteHouse video about the #ParisAccord. We disagree -- so we've changed it." We’ve seen the @WhiteHouse video about the #ParisAccord. We disagree – so we’ve changed it. #MakeThePlanetGreatAgain. pic.twitter.com/8A92MBwe6c — France Diplomacy???? (@francediplo_EN) June 2, 2017 × Its own video uses the same format -- background, font, images and music -- as the White House version but adds facts to debunk the White House claims. It refers, for example, to major companies such as Exxonmobil and Microsoft which "disagree" that the accord will "undermine" US jobs, and quotes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on the urgent need to fight carbon emissions. The tweet includes a now-popular hashtag "make our planet great again" -- a cheeky adaptation of the nationalist slogan used by Trump on his election campaign trail. The video is also notable for being in English. France is famous for championing the use of the French language, and its leaders are always under pressure to speak only in French, even if they are fluent in English, when they are in the public arena. But newly-elected president Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old former banker, has made a point of speaking in English, apparently seeking to make direct contact with a wider audience. On Thursday, he released a video in English as well as French in which he criticised Trump for pulling out of the Paris accord and coined the "Make our planet great again" slogan. He also invited American scientists, businesspeople and citizens who are frustrated by the White House's stance to "come and work here with us" on finding a solution to the climate crisis. "They will find in France a second homeland," Macron said. His remarks were retweeted more than 140,000 times and "liked" by more than a quarter of a million users, according to Twitter figures as of Friday afternoon. (AFP)

France 'corrects' White House video on climate pact with fact-check

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France approves 'ecocide' offence to punish environmental damage

France 'corrects' White House video on climate pact with fact-check