Since Saturday, following Emmanuel Macron's statements on the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, calls to boycott French products have multiplied on social networks and in several countries such as Turkey, Kuwait and Qatar.
Sunday evening, faced with the proliferation of messages, the Quai d'Orsay urged the governments of the countries concerned to "stop" these calls to boycott French products and to demonstrate against these calls from a "radical minority".
Paris also asked them to "ensure the safety" of the French living on their soil.
In this context, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, the head of Medef called on French companies to “resist the blackmail” of a boycott of French products in several countries in the Middle East.
Asked about the RMC radio, the boss felt that it was necessary "to put our principles before the possibility of developing our business."
"
"Nothing will make us back down, ever"
Words that are part of the extension of Emmanuel Macron's response.
“Freedom, we cherish it;
equality, we guarantee it;
fraternity, we live it with intensity.
Nothing will make us back down, ever ”, launched the President of the Republic, adding on Twitter and Instagram.
" We will continue.
We respect all differences in a spirit of peace.
We never accept hate speech and stand for reasonable debate.
"
VIDEO. Caricatures of Mahomet: French products boycotted, Macron's portrait burnt
One unanswered question remains: what risk do companies risk with these calls for a boycott?
Already several cosmetics and dairy products have been withdrawn from certain shelves in supermarkets in Qatar and Kuwait.
The impact of the boycott difficult to quantify
For the French Minister of Foreign Trade Franck Riester mentioned "impacts impossible to quantify for the moment".
But for specialists in the current state and if the wave does not take more magnitude because of the diffusion on social networks, these boycott measures remain for the moment in the domain of the symbolic.
Turkey, which is going through a serious economic crisis, will find it difficult to do without certain French manufacturers like Renault to continue to run its factories.
In addition, some French companies are partly owned with capital from Arab countries.
This is particularly the case in the chicken export sector.
So it is difficult to see how a boycott measure could be put in place.
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Finally, the countries which have launched calls for a boycott also risk being sanctioned in return by Europe.
However, the capital invested by Arab countries in the European Union is numerous and could also severely penalize them.
