In France, three Breton-based supermarket chains – Leclerc, Intermarché and Système U – shut their stores in the region symbolically for an hour last week to protest over the introduction of écotaxe.
In a joint press statement, put out by Leclerc buying organisation Scarmor, the action was described as a response to a call to action launched by the Breton promotion association Produit en Bretagne.
Through a combination of geographical remoteness and multiple ongoing regional economic crises, opposition to écotaxe is very strong throughout Brittany. The retailers have been careful to show regional solidarity without letting it impact sales. They all displayed a shared poster design on their doors, which Agence Bretagne Presse distributed online, despite reservations about the use of “an administrative map” showing the region as a peninsula.
For their part, the retailers made no mention of their symbolic action outside the region. On the other hand, back in July Leclerc used the opportunity of the then current 1 October deadline to extract the cooperation of suppliers and hauliers to set up a portal to share operational logistics data to promote environmental interests and be écotaxe efficient.
