Mr. Alexandre Bompard:
I am writing to you as a client, because on weekends in La Cerdanya I always hesitate between buying at your Carrefour Market in Puigcerdà or, on French soil although barely five minutes by car, at Carrefour in Ur.
And this weekend I will doubt even more after you and the executives of other large stores announced yesterday, at the direction of Macron's liberal government, a voluntary agreement to reduce a basket of 200 basic products by 20% (Leclerc distanced himself by saying that the lower all).
The French Minister of the Economy – who had already refused to lower VAT as had been done here, where it seems that it has not been of much use – had reminded them before the agreement that, despite the fact that transport and logistics costs have decreased, this reduction It is not yet noticeable in the prices of its supermarkets.
And it is at this point where, before being forced to do anything in Spain via BOE, which would be deplorable, I make my humble suggestion.
Competition – and not obedience – is the mother of science. And transparency is what makes it fair and loyal. Banning the market, on the other hand, is like banning conversation. But if we don't let the other speak or listen or let him sell, neither the words nor the products will reach everyone. For this reason, we know that the best regulation is not dictated by any government: it is the one that one imposes – the one that we agree on and impose on ourselves – to serve everyone.
Hence, before the Spanish government is forced, like the French, to publish the margins of the value chain, from the orchard to the supermarket, here not yet revealed and in the hands of our Ministry of Finance: why not make yours public as it already does in France?
Even: Why don't you take the opportunity to gain market share in Spain at the expense of your competitors who are reluctant to reduce their margins based on this lack of transparency? If you anticipate any government and competition like this, you will dispel my doubts about which Carrefour, whether French or Spanish, to go to: both will be better.
