The government and some distributors are launching an anti-inflation basket, supposed to meet the needs of consumers. What the associations think.
Par Arthur Fritel-Sina
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© Cedric JACQUOT / MAXPPP / PHOTOPQR/L’EST REPUBLICAIN/MAXPP
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Qhen she goes shopping in the supermarket on the corner of her street, Marie, 24, an intermittent entertainment worker, immediately turns to the cheapest products. “The anti-inflation basket set up by U stores [qui contient 150 produits à prix coûtant, NDLR] helps me a lot! she explains. She hopes that this measure, launched on 1is February by Dominique Schelcher, CEO of the sign, for an “indefinite period”, will last.
The anti-inflation basket, we’ve been talking about it for months. In mid-January, the Minister Delegate for Trade, Olivia Grégoire, promised to defend consumers’ purchasing power with the creation on 1is March of a basket containing 50 products “sold at the best value for money”, including five fruits and vegetables, three of which are organic, fish and red or white meat. A social measure that seems essential when the rise in food prices reached 13% in January over one year, according to INSEE. But between theory and practice, there is a long way to go. For now, only two brands, System U and Lidl, have joined the initiative.
A project dependent on brands
Can this basket have an impact on the wallet of the French? “Selling certain food products cheaper is obviously an idea that is going in the right direction,” said Sylvain Vallez, secretary general of Secours populaire des Hauts-de-Seine. But he believes that the government is quite powerless to intervene on product prices. He notes a main limit to Olivia Grégoire’s project: the basket is based on volunteering. Each brand is therefore free to withdraw at any time. For Sylvain Vallez, the impact of baskets on food insecurity in France may be too low.
“I expect the government, if it really wants to give back purchasing power to consumers, to start by ending the Egalim law, which obliges distribution brands to achieve a minimum margin of 10% on products food”, requires Alain Bazot, president of UFC-Que Choisir, on the association’s website. “This inflationary law hits first-price products hard,” he continues. The U system anti-inflation basket is also criticized in its composition by the association. She notes that 39% of the products in the basket classified with Nutri-score have a score between D and E, the lowest scores. As if the “Eat well, for nothing” promoted by the presidential candidate of the Netflix series In place of Jean-Pascal Zadi was still difficult to implement in reality…
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We are afraid of having to choose between the people we welcome.Nicolas Champion (Popular Relief)
The basket of System U which cuts the grass under the foot with the government seems to be the fruit of a tension between the signs of distribution and this last as for the law Descrozaille. This text, which governs trade negotiations with manufacturers, is too much to the advantage of the latter, in the opinion of distributors.
“The inflation crisis is coming as we are barely emerging from the Covid-19 crisis”, worries Nicolas Champion, member of the Secours Populaire national office in charge of food aid. The French Secours populaire, which helped 2 million people in 2021, has seen an increase in requests for help of 30 to 50% in certain territories. He is worried about the increase in student precariousness, while the deputies have just rejected by one vote a bill aimed at ensuring a meal at 1 euro for all students.
According to the secretary general of Secours populaire des Hauts-de-Seine, Sylvain Vallez, “the European food aid system (SEAA) from which we benefit is very insufficient to meet the growing demand of the most modest people. We are in constant need of assistance, whatever the form, to allow our families in precarious situations to feed themselves on a daily basis”. “The Secours Populaire self-services – which allow people to do their shopping – will still have trouble functioning if nothing changes, thunders Nicolas Champion. We refuse to have to choose between the people we welcome. But we are afraid to get there one day, ”he concludes.
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