The government finally ruled out a track aimed at fighting inflation.
While this Monday, on France Inter, the Minister of Economy and Finance had proposed to raise the ceiling for promotions on food products, this project no longer seems relevant.
Earlier this week, the Minister of Economy and Finance opened the door to a modification of the promotion ceiling, in order to increase it beyond the 34% currently provided for by the Egalim law.
"
I propose to raise this threshold to 50%
", so that buyers can benefit from "
bargain prices
", declared Bruno Le Maire at the time.
This Tuesday, a meeting was held between the president of the FNSEA (National Federation of Farmers' Unions), Christiane Lambert, the boss of Bercy, Bruno Le Maire, but also Arnaud Gaillot, president of the Young Farmers' Union (JA ).
The track relating to promotions has been dismissed: “
We have been heard.
There will be no questioning of the level of promotions.
Otherwise, it would have put the agri-food sector in big trouble
, ”claims the representative of the FNSEA at
Le Figaro
.
Contacted, the minister's entourage confirms it: "
He has heard their concerns for the agricultural world and therefore prefers to reject this proposal
", declared Bercy to
Le Figaro
while specifying that it was above all a "
proposal, not a decision
”.
Reinforced controls in sight
In addition, as announced by the Minister on Monday, a mission from the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) will be launched “
in the coming days
” to monitor compliance with the resale at a loss threshold imposed on retail chains.
This system requires retailers to keep a margin of at least 10% on the sale of food products, in order to boost farmers' incomes.
"
10% must go to the producers, I want to make sure that this 10% goes well to the producers
", declared Bruno Le Maire, on France Inter.
"
The mission will begin next week and we will be part
of it ," said the president of the FNSEA.
Controls have also been launched "
sector by sector
", in order to ensure that the price increases recorded in the distribution for a few months are indeed legitimate.
This work should make it possible to “
see if there are unacceptable margins
”, and, possibly, to sanction the “
profiteers of the inflationary crisis
”.
Parliament also wants to take up this file: the RN group in the National Assembly has requested the launch of a commission of inquiry into price increases, as has the CRCE group in the Senate.
On Friday, the Economic Affairs Committee, chaired by Sophie Primas, announced that it would "
address the question of purchasing power and the causes of
".
The first elements will be published on July 20.
Read alsoConsume less and produce more: the two remedies against inflation
The issue of inflation is at the heart of the government's concerns as the bill aimed at protecting the purchasing power of households will be debated in a few days in Parliament.
In food, price increases have been particularly strong in recent months.
In June, according to INSEE, fresh produce in particular saw its bill rise by 6.2%, against 5.7% for other food products.
