"The record is not satisfactory." While the Egalim law is celebrating its first birthday, Christiane Lambert, president of the FNSEA, the first agricultural union, is not convinced of its effectiveness. This legislation was supposed to provide farmers with fairer prices in the face of the all-powerful supermarkets. For now, it's a failure, say the farmers.
"It's difficult to change 40 years of bad practices, it's been four decades since the favorite sport of farmers is to pull prices down, buy the cheapest products possible," says the head of the FNSEA. With some representatives of the agricultural sector, Christiane Lambert has a meeting Tuesday at the Ministry to take stock, and consider possible new devices. In their viewfinder, there is in particular the "unfair" competition that the distributors lead, despite the provisions of the Egalim law. "They have found a way around some devices," she says.
"Workarounds"
Farmers point the finger at the failings of the law that frames promotions. "Distributors, for example, do not have the right to offer a product offered for a product purchased, so they find a subtle way: for a chicken bought, a guinea fowl offered, an orange juice bought, an apple juice offered. .. "denounces Christaine Lambert. "They make fun of us." The profession is calling for stronger controls by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control (DGCCRF).
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The only sector that currently benefits from the Egalim law, explains the FNSEA, it is that of dairy products. "The best is minimal, but you have to work with good examples to improve them again"