The government makes a move
to give relief to bakers who have been warning for several weeks about their difficulties in coping the soaring energy prices. Bruno Le Maire announced this Tuesday a series of possible measures deferment of payment of taxes and social contributionsthe ability to change energy supplier for free, or personalized support for every baker who requests it.
Avoid disasters
Some bakers, on the verge of bankruptcy, sound the alarm when bills have become delusional. “It will be enough, we don’t know” comments Vincent Nagelschmit, president of the Employers’ Federation of Moselle bakers and bakers-confectioners, “but all government announcements are good news.” The baker from Monneren is cautious, because situations are very different from one professional to another, therefore the importance of personalized support to avoid disaster. “I insist to my colleagues, before finding themselves in such a situation, they must contact the Chamber of Commerce or the Federation of Bakers to better study their case”.
Vincent Nagelschmit welcomes the flexibility afforded to bakers change energy supplier in the event that prices rise too prohibitively. “When you are offered a contract, if the energy tariff is very high, the contract will be very high, while it could be more advantageous a few weeks or months later. The government has taken stock of the problem.”
Pending the effects of these measures, the bakers had no choice but to raise the prices of their products. “Everyone calculates their margins, their costs, their expenses, to bring the selling price into line with reality as much as possible.” Despite everything, the customers remain loyal, he assures, and the shops “it turned long before Christmas and continues with the galette des rois”.
