2023-06-17 10:20:53
It’s an interview that sounds like a stern warning. Benoît Coeuré, president of the Autorité de la concurrence, accuses certain companies of making “excessive profits” on the backs of consumers, justifying them by the context of rising prices. And to warn: “Be careful, we are vigilant and we have the instruments to sanction, even severely”, he launched in an interview with “Parisien”.
While the Autorité de la concurrence “looks more particularly” at certain sectors, without specifying which ones, it is currently investigating “suspicions of an agreement” by companies “who say to themselves that as prices increase everywhere, it will be seen less if they get along”. “It is a collective priority to understand where the excessive profits are”, insists Benoît Coeuré.
Two-thirds of inflation due to businesses
Based on data from the ECB, the boss of the competition policeman says that two thirds of inflation is due to an increase in prices beyond the cost increases borne by companies, and only a third to the ‘salary increase. This is the reverse of what happens normally.
Incidentally, when asked about the agri-food sector particularly affected by inflation, Benoît Coeuré was very critical of the EGalim law. “Based on a legitimate and indisputable concern, namely the defense of farmers’ income, we have built regulations in the form of a gas factory which does not necessarily achieve its goal,” he said, judging that it is the industrialists who profit from this system, at the expense of consumers and without any obvious benefit for farmers.
In this interview, the President of the Competition Authority also announces the forthcoming publication of two opinions intended for the legislator. The first concerns the Cloud, where the big American players can keep “the corporate client prisoner of a given service” with very low entry costs but very high exit costs. The second opinion will focus on electric charging stations.
What keys to adapt in a complex environment?
How to react to the challenges of the energy transition? How to position yourself in an unstable economic and political environment? How can the innovation opportunities in each sector be best exploited? On a daily basis, through our decryptions, surveys, chronicles, international press reviews and editorials, we support our subscribers by giving them the keys to adapting to a complex environment.
#Inflation #Competition #Authoritys #warning #excessive #profits