The Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, and the Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, have called a new meeting for distribution and consumer organizations, after a first contact this Monday, to discuss Díaz's proposal to create a basket of purchase at a fixed price.

A proposal that

the great distribution rejects

when considering that "it is not a good idea and it is not useful to solve the price problem" that the Spanish suffer.

Díaz has described the meeting as a meeting "of the utmost importance" and has thanked "the constructive attitude that the large distributors have maintained" and the consumer associations, "the contributions and sharing the diagnosis that the country is experiencing".

"We are in a moment of extreme weakness," he said.

Díaz explained that the consumer and distribution associations have made proposals and

have called for another meeting

"of long duration to work on all the proposals that have been addressed" today.

He insists that his proposal "is legal and consists of providing a basic shopping basket, which is of quality, made up of products that guarantee a healthy diet in our country", said Díaz, who has insisted that the basket it must contain fresh products, meat, fish, vegetables, eggs and dairy products and be suitable for coeliacs.

The idea is that its prices are frozen until Christmas

.

The distribution has insisted that

the chains are not to blame for the price increases

and do not believe that the proposal to create a basic basket will solve the price problem.

"We have transferred our concern to the minister about the image that is being given of distribution and that it is not reality," said Javier Millán-Astray, president of Anged, one of the employers' associations in the sector.

"

You cannot kill the messenger,

because we are the ones who face consumers", Millán-Astray pointed out.

The general director of Asedas, Ignacio García Magarzo, has insisted that the sector does not share the minister's proposal,

"we do not believe that the choice of a common basket is a good idea

, and it is not consistent with the operation of distribution" .

García Magarzo has pointed out that when a similar measure was put into practice in France, "it did not work, because there are consumers who had the perception that quality had dropped", and sales dropped.

The distribution insists that the proposal can distort the functioning of the market, since in principle the chains cannot reach agreements to agree on prices, as this alters competition.

They have explained that this meeting "has been more of a contact, so that the minister knows the reality of the sector, "which other ministries do know, because

the Labor Ministry is not usually the forum" to deal with these issues

, as explained Aurelio del Pino, president of the Spanish Association of Supermarket Chains (Aces).

What they have proposed to the minister are other options, such as

lowering the VAT on food

, "which is an inflationary tax," according to Millán-Astray.

Even suspend VAT temporarily, as Germany did in 2020.

margins

The Minister of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, has insisted that "the duty of every government is to protect the purchasing power of families" with this proposal, "at least until after Christmas."

"It is up to the distributors to be able to do it, as they demonstrated during the pandemic, with their great commitment to society."

Garzón has said that the composition of this hypothetical basket will be chosen by the chains and they hope that "this hypothetical offer guarantees key food quality, in terms of diversity and health".

"We are in a positive line

to moderate food prices and protect the purchasing power of families", he said.

He has insisted that the idea is "to reach a great agreement" with the big distributors.

"

Some have had hundreds of millions of euros of profit

and have even distributed a dividend and that is where the margin is."

she has insisted.

Del Pino has said in this regard that

"there is no other sector that manages smaller margins

than distribution", since these do not exceed 1%.

The sector insists that its business consists of "selling a lot of volume with little margin."

The 'pilot' of Carrefour

Yolanda Díaz already met last week with Carrefour, which has started to sell a basket with 30 products for 30 euros starting today.

This basket has hardly any fresh products and leaves out milk and eggs

, two of the products that, according to Díaz, they do want the basket to contain.

"

We do not evaluate the commercial offers of companies

. You are free to choose their composition", said Garzón.

Díaz has stressed that Carrefour has committed to analyzing the Government's proposal.

"

The proposal that we have formulated is clear, perfectly legal.

If you review the trade law you will see that there are exceptions. This proposal is based on the principle of competition," said Díaz.

Both ministers believe that it is the large distribution that has to make the effort, not the small business, which has fewer margins.

"

The small business is welcome, but those who have margins

to be able to practice discounts are the large surfaces", said Díaz.

new meeting

Representatives from the Council of Consumers and Users, the Association of Supermarket Distributors (Anged), the Association of Spanish Supermarket Chains (Aces) and the Spanish Association of Distributors, Self-Services and Supermarkets (Asedas) participated in today's meeting.

There were no representatives of the two ministries that have powers in the matter, that of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, and that of Industry, Commerce and Tourism.

The issue has heightened tensions within the government.

Most of the ministers have been against the measure, including the one with the powers in food policy, Luis Planas.

This Monday, the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, José Luis Escrivá

, also referred to the issue

, saying that Díaz's proposal does not imply a price control mechanism, but "moral persuasion", since what he seeks is to appeal to the responsibility of the large distributors.

The Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, has said that the Government is working to see how Díaz's initiative can be applied.

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