{"id":81272,"date":"2025-10-24T08:30:41","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T07:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antilla-martinique.com\/?p=81272"},"modified":"2025-10-24T09:13:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T08:13:12","slug":"outre-mer-le-senat-adopte-en-commission-le-projet-de-loi-contre-la-vie-chere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antilla-martinique.com\/en\/outre-mer-le-senat-adopte-en-commission-le-projet-de-loi-contre-la-vie-chere\/","title":{"rendered":"Overseas Territories: Senate Committee Approves Bill to Combat the High Cost of Living"},"content":{"rendered":"

The bill, originally introduced by the Bayrou administration and taken up by S\u00e9bastien Lecornu\u2019s administration, will be considered on Tuesday on the floor of the National Assembly.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The bill to combat the high cost of living in the overseas territories has cleared its first parliamentary hurdle. Introduced under the government of Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou and later taken up by that of S\u00e9bastien Lecornu, the bill was adopted by the Senate\u2019s Economic Affairs Committee. It aims to boost purchasing power, enhance commercial transparency, and transform the overseas economies, against a backdrop of significant social tensions following the protests that took place in Martinique in the fall of 2024.<\/p>\n

A Stronger Value-for-Money Advantage<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Senators approved several landmark measures, including the strengthening of the Quality-Price Shield (BQP), a flagship program established in 2013 to keep the cost of essential goods in check. The legislation now provides not merely for price moderation, but for an actual reduction in the price gap with mainland France, in order to tangibly improve the cost of living for households in the overseas territories.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opposition to Lowering the Threshold for Resale at a Loss<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, the committee rejected one of the bill\u2019s most controversial provisions: the exclusion of transportation costs from the calculation of the threshold for selling at a loss. This measure, which would have allowed retailers to lower their shelf prices even further, was deemed risky for the local economic balance. According to rapporteurs Micheline Jacques (Les R\u00e9publicains) and Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Buval (Macronist group), it \u00abwould risk strengthening the dominant positions of large corporations, undermining local businesses, and penalizing local production.\u00bb.<\/p>\n

A text deemed still insufficient<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite the bill\u2019s unanimous approval in committee, several senators expressed reservations. \u00abThis bill represents real progress in terms of transparency, but concerns remain in the long term,\u00bb Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Buval emphasized during the question period. Dominique Estrosi Sassone, the committee\u2019s LR chair, for her part, regretted that the law \u00abdoes not live up to the expectations of overseas residents,\u00bb while praising \u00abthe modest progress\u00bb made during the discussions.<\/p>\n

Price differences remain staggering<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), price differences for food products still reach up to 42 % between the overseas departments\u2014particularly Guadeloupe and Martinique\u2014and mainland France. Public debate on the bill will begin on Tuesday, with a vote expected by the end of October.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Understanding: What Is the Break-Even Point?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The no-loss resale threshold refers to the minimum price at which a retailer may resell a product. In France, the law prohibits a retailer from selling goods at a price lower than their actual purchase cost\u2014that is, the purchase price plus transportation, storage, and procurement costs.<\/p>\n

This rule is intended to protect small retailers and local producers from dumping practices by large retailers, which might temporarily sell at a loss to eliminate competition before raising prices.<\/p>\n

The bill to combat the high cost of living proposed excluding transportation costs from the calculation of this threshold in order to allow retailers to lower shelf prices, particularly in overseas territories where freight costs account for as much as 20 to 30 % of the final price of products.<\/p>\n

However, the Senate Economic Affairs Committee rejected this measure, arguing that it would primarily benefit large retail chains at the expense of neighborhood stores and local producers. According to its rapporteurs, Micheline Jacques (LR) and Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Buval (Macronist group), such a reform would risk \u00abstrengthening dominant positions, undermining small players, and penalizing local supply chains.\u00bb.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Le texte, port\u00e9 initialement par le gouvernement Bayrou et repris par celui de S\u00e9bastien Lecornu, sera examin\u00e9 mardi dans l\u2019h\u00e9micycle. Le projet de loi contre la vie ch\u00e8re en Outre-mer a franchi \u00a0une premi\u00e8re \u00e9tape parlementaire. Pr\u00e9sent\u00e9 sous le gouvernement de Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou, puis repris par celui de S\u00e9bastien Lecornu, le texte a \u00e9t\u00e9 adopt\u00e9<\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":81274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_canonical_url":"","rank_math_robots":null,"rank_math_facebook_title":"","rank_math_facebook_description":"","rank_math_twitter_title":"","rank_math_twitter_description":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-actualite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antilla-martinique.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antilla-martinique.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antilla-martinique.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antilla-martinique.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antilla-martinique.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/antilla-martinique.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antilla-martinique.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antilla-martinique.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antilla-martinique.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antilla-martinique.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}