"Let's block everything" on September 10: the head of Intermarché increased his stocks out of "fear" of the shares

The head of the Mousquetaires-Intermarché Group expressed his concerns on Monday, September 8, two days before the September 10 strike, which prompted him to request larger-than-usual deliveries. " We don't know the extent [of the strike], but the fear is there. So, to meet the needs of our consumers, we've issued instructions," Thierry Cotillard stressed this Monday morning, interviewed on RMC/BFM.

The manager thus asked "the manufacturers to deliver a little more than expected"; and to the stores "we told them 'you increase the load, you stock a little more'" . Enough to have "between three and ten days of storage depending on the product families. This would allow, if the movement continues , to be able to continue to supply the French", detailed the French businessman.

Thierry Cotillard also denounced the "free trolley" calls launched for Wednesday, meaning people leave supermarkets without paying. "When the extremists' instructions are to enter a supermarket and leave without paying, that's called theft. So I really appeal to the demonstrators' civic-mindedness to ensure this kind of incident doesn't happen, since we will obviously organize ourselves accordingly," he warned.

With two days to go before the September 10th mobilization, announced several weeks ago, the authorities are expecting a variety of actions across the country. The social movement, which originated on social media and therefore outside of traditional organizations, is "plural," Murielle Guilbert, co-general delegate of the Solidaires trade union, whose organization called for the strike, acknowledged to Libération . This makes its demands—hostility to the Bayrou budget, purchasing power, the demand for the introduction of the RIC, the citizens' initiative referendum, etc.—and its possible actions—rather unclear.

The Intermarché director also expressed concern about the repercussions of the political crisis that France risks entering on Monday, with the expected fall of François Bayrou's government . "Our concern as food distributors is to ask ourselves ' isn't politics going to destroy all this' and we're going to enter a recession?" the business leader asked.

"We've been watching sales for the past two weeks, since the announcement of the vote of confidence [on August 25], it hasn't been reflected in the shopping cart," Thierry Cotillard noted, but "right now, we're buying Christmas products. What commitments are there on champagne, on foie gras? We have this concern: will the French be able, and especially want, to be festive at the end of the year?"