Paris (AFP)
There will be a "tolerance until Wednesday" for supermarkets to close the shelves of non-essential products, the Ministry of the Economy said on Monday, the day after the government announced this closure from Tuesday. .
The decree defining essential products "will be published tomorrow (Tuesday) morning, so there is a tolerance until Wednesday," Bercy explained in a message to the press.
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, received this Monday at 4:00 p.m. the representatives of the players in large and medium-sized stores.
A decree must specify Tuesday morning what exactly are the products that cannot be sold by mass distribution.
Sunday evening, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on TF1 that in the name of "equity" and health security, the government had decided to close non-essential shelves in supermarkets, rather than allow small ones shops to reopen.
He had specified that a point would be made "in 15 days and then, above all, by the deadline of December 1 set as the end of this confinement".
The sling had amplified in recent days among small traders, forced to close during confinement, while supermarkets can remain open.
Friday evening, the government had already announced that the book and culture departments of food and specialized supermarkets would "temporarily close" with immediate effect, "for the sake of equity between supermarkets and independent bookstores" which are not authorized to open during confinement.
Just before this announcement Friday, the Fnac-Darty group - whose stores remain open - also announced that it would close its culture departments for the next 15 days, "for the sake of responsibility".
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