The State, which is opposed to the takeover of the French group Carrefour and Quebecois Couche-Tard, should he interfere in this merger?

For the editorialist Nicolas Barré, this choice questions the legitimacy of the government in this type of file, for which the sovereignty of France is not called into question. 

EDITORIAL

It's no !

Through Bruno Le Maire, the state opposed the takeover of Carrefour by the Quebec group Couche-Tard, while the two entities are at the stage of preliminary discussions.

On France 5, Wednesday evening, the French Minister of the Economy said he was "not in favor" of the coming merger of the two behemoths of food distribution, describing the Carrefour sign as "an essential link in security food of the French, in food sovereignty ".

For the editorialist Nicolas Barré, the question of the legitimacy of the State's intervention in this area arises.

"This position is not surprising, if only because Carrefour is the leading French private employer, present throughout the territory. It is therefore a symbol. And Bruno Le Maire, who stepped up to the plate on Wednesday Against this takeover, also recalled the role of Carrefour during this year of the coronavirus pandemic, the mobilization of its staff and its commitment to the agri-food industry.

But is it legitimate?

This is the right question and we can really wonder.

First, there are other distributors in France like Lidl who are foreign-owned, German in this case, and that doesn't bother anyone.

They were just as mobilized during the pandemic as the employees of Carrefour, Auchan or Casino.

Impossible relocations

And it is not the nationality of a distributor that will endanger the food sovereignty of the French.

During the Covid-19 crisis, millions of French people also bought a lot on Amazon which, as we know, is an American giant.

Whether a distributor is owned by French or foreign capital does not change the service it provides.

Whether Carrefour's shareholders are French or Quebecois does not change the fact that its activities, in any case, cannot be relocated: the Quebecer who bought Carrefour would not have moved his stores to Quebec.

"

In an open world, you have to choose your fights

"

The nationality of a company is still not neutral, especially if the decision-making centers go thousands of kilometers away.

But, in an open world, you have to choose your battles.

Carrefour does not manufacture nuclear submarines.

There is a distinction to be made between the industries of sovereignty and the rest.

The image of a closed country

On the other hand, the interest of our companies is also to be able to buy foreign competitors: Alstom very recently bought the transport division - the locomotives - of the Quebecois Bombardier and Airbus acquired part of its aeronautical activities, to name but a few. these examples.

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Each year, the government invites the leaders of the largest foreign groups to Versailles to invest in France.

Clearly, state intervention in this type of case can very quickly turn out to be a double-edged sword, and send back a negative image.

That of a closed, protectionist country, headed by an interventionist state that interferes in business life, even when it is not a shareholder, as at Carrefour. "