The radio station, Europe 1, has revealed on air the proposals of Interfel, the interbranch organization of fruits and vegetables.

Noting the rising price of the French shopping basket, Interfel asks the government to reduce the VAT and introduce purchase vouchers for the more modest consumers. “We propose to act on the VAT, especially for fruits and vegetables. The goal is to be as close as possible to zero, depending on the arbitration that will be made,” explains Laurent Grandin, president of Interfel. He indicated that the VAT is currently at 5.5% on these products.

The idea of introducing a system of purchase vouchers for the more modest households seems to have been well received by the French president.

These proposals would likely relieve the budget of the French households which have especially felt the latest price increase on fresh products (+15 to 20%, or an extra 20 to 30 euro cents [0.23 to 0.34 USD] on average). Yet, the Minister of Agriculture, Didier Guillaume, seems to avoid the issue. When interviewed by Europe 1, he declared that the government has already done a lot for the sector and that such demands should rather be made to the European unio. “We have exempted casual job-seeking workers, in other words seasonal workers. We have reduced the tax on agriculture by 100 million euros [114 million USD]. Their request now depends on the European unio.”