2023-09-20 11:16:36
Carrefour, the second largest player in food distribution in France behind E.Leclerc, does not “will not sell at a loss” fuels, said its CEO, Alexandre Bompard, during a hearing at the National Assembly on Wednesday, September 20. The ban “Reselling at a loss has been a very important principle of commerce since 1963”estimated Mr. Bompard, also president of the Federation of Commerce and Distribution (FCD) which represents a large part of the sector, adding that“we must not open this Pandora’s box”.
The measure, announced on Saturday by Elisabeth Borne, is far from having aroused the enthusiasm of fuel distributors, who gathered in Bercy on Tuesday. The brands present estimated that a “effort as it was dimensioned and over a long period” was not “not possible”explained to Monde a participant. car “it could jeopardize the operation of certain stores. Fifty euro cents less per liter [chiffre évoqué par le gouvernement], [cela] would mean losing several thousand euros per day”.
As for TotalEnergies, which manages a third of the country’s stations but for which the government project of resale at a loss was not intended, its boss, Patrick Pouyanné, said Tuesday that he did not intend to go below the ceiling of 1 .99 euro per liter of fuel which it introduced this year.
On Wednesday, however, the government announced that it was maintaining its project. The possibility of selling at a loss, intended to combat soaring fuel prices, “is not an obligation”noted the Minister of Public Accounts, Thomas Cazenave, on Sud Radio.
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“Allow those who can do it to do it”
The minister explained that the bill that the government is considering for a desired entry into force in December amounted to saying “poor! » to distributors who had recently assured that they could not lower fuel prices much because they were not authorized to sell at a loss.
“What we want is to allow those who can do it to do it: punch operations, capping and, for those who want, selling at a loss”declared Mr. Cazenave.
He said “fall out of his chair when he hears that the State is making money” on the increase in the price of fuel, comparing the increase in “2 billion euros in VAT” that she engendered “40 billion spent by the State this year to protect the French against inflation and the price of fuel”. “It’s not serious, Marine Le Pen”launched Mr. Cazenave to the president of the National Rally group in the National Assembly, who advocates a VAT of 5.5% on fuel.
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Furthermore, a fund, of an amount still under study, would be disbursed by the State to help small distributors, who would be very affected by competition which would sell at a loss. “I prefer to negotiate with distributors than ask the taxpayer to finance a rebate which would cost 12 billion euros”launched Mr. Cazenave.
Asked about a renewal in 2024 of the tax on the superprofits of oil companies, the minister replied that “everything is on the table”.
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