This Monday, March 6, the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire announced the implementation of an “anti-inflation quarter” operation. Inherited from the anti-inflation basket project, the operation in question provides for the possibility for all large-scale retailers to offer a selection of products at the “lowest possible” price, by cutting back on their margins. The device should be operational between March 15 and June 15, as reported by our colleagues from Capital.
The only problem is that the government directive for large retailers does not specify what would correspond to the “lowest possible price”, therefore leaving retailers free to choose the amount of reduction in their margins. Moreover, the maximum reduction in margins in question is already established: indeed, the Egalim 1 law does not authorize distributors to sell their products at less than 10% more than the price at which they bought them. .
Originally, this law aimed to ensure better remuneration for farmers. However, according to parliamentary assessments of the consequences of the law, it seems to have achieved its objective only very partially. For the moment, the famous Egalim 1 law is only in force on an experimental basis, until April 15, 2023. The measure should however be renewed, by means of a law adopted at first reading in the National Assembly and the Senate, proposed by Renaissance deputy Frédéric Descrozaille.
Faced with this situation, the consumer associations UFC-Que Choisir, Rural Families and Consumption Housing Framework of Life have written a letter addressed to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, in which they call on the government to suspend the Egalim law to guarantee a real ” anti-inflation quarter”. To see if their efforts will bear fruit.
