Tiphaine Dubuard / Photo credit: ALAIN JOCARD / POOL / AFP 7:24 p.m., February 21, 2024
As the Agricultural Show approaches, farmers continue to maintain pressure on the government. To calm the anger, Gabriel Attal made several announcements. Among them, he intends to present a new Egalim bill by the summer.
In just six years, this is the fourth Egalim law presented by the government. The first dates back to 2018 and forced supermarkets to achieve a minimum margin of 10%. In 2021, the second established the principle of protecting the cost of agricultural materials. The third, which was passed last year, extended these rules to private labels.
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For this fourth Egalim law, the objective is to secure farmers' income. To do this, Gabriel Attal intends to work on three axes. "First on the construction of the price, moving forward it must start from the producer with the industrialist then the mass distribution. Second subject, the place of production cost indicators, they exist, they must be more central and third subject, European purchasing centers", explained the Prime Minister during a press conference.
An Egalim law at European level
A parliamentary mission led by two majority deputies was launched to work on additional proposals. This new bill must also be thought of in conjunction with an Egalim system at European level. For the government, this is the way to prevent French distributors from circumventing the law by going through European purchasing centers, currently singled out by farmers. Today, 70% of the French market's supply is traded in these power stations.