Relations between French wholesalers and cash and carry companies have never been easy, to say the least.

Everybody knows the arguments on each side: wholesalers complain of wild and unfair competition from companies more interested in the retail sector, while the cash and carry businesses sneer at “has-been” traders.

Tension has increased again in the last few days as the debate moves into the legislative arena.

An important bill is about to be passed, the aim of which is to totally revamp commercial relations in the country.

I will spare you the technical details, in fact in all honestly, there are few people able to explain the whole thing without blinking.

Wholesalers discovered in the text a proposition that if carried through would give a clear advantage to the cash-and-carry sector.

This, it was feared, could give them the possibility to slash prices by 10 per cent while still remaining in the field of the law.

This figure is more or less the wholesalers' final margin. Some are already predicting they will have to shut up shop if the bill goes through unaltered.

There is not a lot more they can do than lobby in Parliament's corridors and wait for the vote. But there is an ironic, if not sad, thing here: the text is supported by one of the traditional greengrocers' unions.

Have you ever heard the story of Julius Caesar and his son?