Inflation “suspicious”: MEPs ask to go “further in the obligations of transparency”

MPs responsible for looking at inflation said on Wednesday they couldn’t say at this point whether shady practices are contributing to the current rise in prices, while calling for heightened vigilance.

Aurélie Trouvou (LFI) and Xavier Albertini (Horizons), rapporteurs of a working group created by the Economic Affairs Commission, wanted to continue their investigations at the beginning of the school year, stressing that the inflationary peak was yet to come.

However, “the current situation seems to justify greater control, by the Government, of the behavior of one and the other,” he stressed.

Ms. Trouvé said that “at this point, the data does not allow us to give a firm answer” on the question of speculation.

transparency requirements

Although he emphasized that the working group has already interviewed no less than 38 personalities, he indicated that an in-depth investigation on this topic requires more time and lamented the difficulty in obtaining figures. “We must go much further in the transparency obligations” imposed on economic actors, she wished.

At the end of June, the president of the strategic committee of the E. Leclerc stores, Michel-Edouard Leclerc, caused a sensation by speaking of “suspicious” increases requested by the manufacturers in the framework of the renegotiations of the prices of food intended for consumers. supermarkets.

However, a Senate report published on July 19 had concluded that, with the exception of a few “specific cases,” there was not a “widespread phenomenon of excessive increases.”

The two deputies for their part make the diagnosis of inflation (5.8% annual in June) that weighs first on the most modest households, and defend a “food bonus” that favors quality products.

It is necessary to avoid that “there are no postponements of consumption (due to the rise in prices) of poor quality imported products,” Albertini stressed.

Ms. Found wanted the food check to “target short and organic,” and was concerned that “inflation would put organic in a hardship” because of its higher price.