During this election time, as French citizens clutched their radios, goggled at their TV sets or tapped feverishly at their WAP mobiles waiting for the name of the new president, something significant passed almost un-noticed in the wholesale world.

Giant cash and carry Metro has asked for derogation from the reference perimeter protecting the Rungis market in order to build a premise in the 18th district of Paris, to the north of the city.

Let me put this into context. Back in 2003, after protracted and often painful negotiations, the State struck a (reasonably) happy medium between the interests of the wholesale markets, cash and carry companies and retailers. The point was to protect the very existence of markets by providing them with a reference perimeter and stipulating that outside wholesale companies ask permission to settle inside the perimeter.

The decision was taken by an ad-hoc committee, constituting Rungis market, State and retailer representatives and the Town of Paris. Fast forward to today and consider the composition of this committee. It would be little surprise if Metro’s request is turned down. But it is by no means a certainty, and no-one should underestimate the leverage of a company such as Metro and the financial benefits to the Paris administration of additional taxes gained through a deal in Metro’s favour.

Nonetheless, the situation raises some questions. The city decided in the 1960s to transfer wholesalers from the city centre location they had occupied since the Middle Ages to Rungis. Reasons used at the time were enhancing traffic flow, increasing hygiene in the area and creating more room for urban projects - the Parisian Forum des Halles, for example, which has not exactly covered itself in glory, in urban development or traffic terms.

So why in 2007 would the Town of Paris let a wholesaler back within the city walls?

People in the know say it might be a result of the desire of Paris’s new urban developers to revamp distribution systems and create logistics hubs from which to dispatch product to retailers downtown with smaller, “green” vehicles. Metro could fit that particular bill as a provider of a dedicated catering logistics premises.

The obvious question, of course, would be: why is Rungis not seen as the biggest, most effective place for this?