The deputies adopted, on Wednesday January 18, in first reading a text modifying in an experimental way the balance of power between suppliers and industrialists of the food industry on the one hand, and the large distribution on the other, in spite of the criticisms of the large retailers, according to which the measure risks aggravating inflation.
After ten days of media confrontation, in particular with Michel Edouard-Leclerc, the deputies unanimously adopted the voters (111 votes for, 37 abstentions) the text of Frédéric Descrozaille, member of the presidential party Renaissance.
Negotiations between distributors and suppliers were at the heart of the debates. The latter offer the 1er December of each year of prices and sales conditions for their products, the starting point for tense discussions until 1er March. But according to Mr. Descrozaille, the balance of power is too favorable to large retailers. “The failure of negotiations does not interrupt the contract. The buyer continues to place an order, the supplier is obliged to deliver it at the price of the previous year”, he argued.
Its text originally provided for a reversal of the balance of power: the supermarket that would like to continue to be delivered would have to accept the supplier’s prices and conditions. The deputies had added in committee a clause establishing a transition period of one month with a mediator so that the two parties agree on a notice of commercial rupture or a recovery. The text was unacceptable to the actors of the large distribution, which waved the risk of a rise in prices on the shelves and accused the Institute of liaisons of the industries of consumption (Ilec), representing many industrialists like Nestlé, Danone or L ‘Oréal, for being behind this measure.
Two years of experimentation
The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, had estimated that the text should be “reworked”. “No merchant brand could oppose price increases of 10% to 30%”was indignant Michel-Edouard Leclerc. “Industrialists are nice? And we are the bad guys? You can clearly see that behind that, there are lobbies. »
The president of the Renaissance group, Aurore Bergé, in return denounced the ” pressure “ exercised by Mr. Leclerc on the Assembly, rejecting any submission to lobbies. Asked about her companion, former MP Grégory Besson-Moreau, now a strategy advisor and who has been in contact with Ilec, she said she worked with “transparent stakeholders” and not “to be under the influence”. During the examination of the text in session, the deputy Descrozaille transformed his measure into an experiment for ” two years “. If the negotiations fail after three months, the mediator would intervene with the support of the ministry. If the two parties were still unable to reach an agreement, commercial relations would be terminated with no obligation to deliver.
The deputy Les Républicains Jérôme Nury warned against the establishment of “common rules for completely different actors”, small producers, SMEs and multinationals. Deputies from both right and left and from the National Rally pleaded unsuccessfully for the text to protect more specifically VSEs-SMEs and small producers.
The Minister of Industry, Roland Lescure, estimated that a ” balance “ to “closer[ait] » and that the rewriting of the text “limits inflationary risk and can allow a supplier to regain margins”. However, he was content to give an opinion of wisdom, rather than an opinion in favor of this measure.