Laura Laplaud with AFP
modified to
9:22 a.m., August 30, 2023
“He speaks, he speaks but does not act.” While prices remain very high on the shelves of supermarkets, representatives of large retailers are summoned this Wednesday by Bruno Le Maire and the Minister Delegate for Trade Olivia Grégoire. A few months after the government’s promise of a “visible drop in food prices” at the start of the school year, the bill remains painful for consumers. Food prices increased by 12.7% in July over one year, which Fabien Roussel, national secretary of the French Communist Party (PCF), guest of the Great interview with Europe 1-Cnews regrets on Wednesday. “Bruno Le Maire makes me laugh, he’s a windmill. He talks, he talks but doesn’t act. Where are the price cuts?” he exclaimed on Europe 1-Cnews.
“Crêpes will soon become a luxury product!”
“When I hear ministers, like Mr. Darmanin, give lectures to find out how to talk to the working classes … But I want to tell them ‘act’! ‘Go and fill your shopping cart at Auchan'”, he said. he launched, defending himself from being a demagogue. “With 1,300 euros net salary per month, how do you do? I want them to really measure what is happening in the country. Sugar took 60%, oil 46%, eggs 29% , 7% milk. Pancakes will soon become a luxury item!”
Fabien Roussel calls for price freezes
This Wednesday, the government therefore plans to ask distributors and manufacturers in the sector received on Thursday to “expand promotional operations to a greater number of products”, and hopes to convince more manufacturers to commit to a “lower prices”. Otherwise, “we are entering the budget period”, expected at the end of September, “we have instruments at our disposal so that everyone can play the game”, warned Bruno Le Maire on Monday.
At the microphone of Europe 1-CNews, Fabien Roussel called on the government to block prices “immediately”, in particular for fuels which are not displayed at the same price depending on the region. “There is a difference of 0.50 cents between the South and the North. All of our fellow citizens, who had the chance to go on vacation for those who left, were fleeced during the holidays! is unbearable! And that’s in France. When you’re in Corsica, on the island of Reunion, in the West Indies, life is even more expensive than elsewhere!”, thundered the national secretary of the CPF.
According to Fabien Roussel, the issue of inflation is not “taken to the height” by the executive. Tuesday, Bruno Le Maire promised that “everything that can improve the situation” of food inflation “would be retained”, with a “limit” however, not to “trim the margins” of farmers.