In view of Christmas, the Government will have to study measures to limit the excessive power of e-commerce giants such as Amazon. This was stated by Codacons, which recalls the risks on the competition front. “If the anti-Covid restrictions on the store front remain in force, e-commerce companies like Amazon would obtain enormous benefits because all the purchases of Italians would be transferred from physical stores to the web – explains Codacons – if on the one hand the Italian consumption and production could benefit from online shopping, on the other hand there would be enormous damage to the traditional retail trade and a clear injury to competition and the market. Then there is the health issue: in Amazon warehouses hundreds of people and the goods transport and delivery chain involves a large number of subjects, a situation which – concludes the association – feeds the possibility of infections much more than in small shops, where a small number of consumers enter under strict anti-Covid regulations “.
The French petition
In France, environmentalists and left-wing politicians, personalities from the world of culture and associations, have joined in a petition to pledge not to use Amazon for Christmas. “Dear Santa Claus, this year we are making a commitment to a Christmas without Amazon”, write the petitioners, among them the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. Also on the list are the regional ecological councilors of Grenoble and Poitiers, Eric Piolle and Lèonore Moncond’huy, as well as Greenpeace, the confederation of merchants of France and the French union of bookstores. The signatories, who paint a gloomy picture of the social, fiscal and environmental consequences of Amazon’s development, call for favoring the use of local shops or the circular economy for gifts for the upcoming holidays. “This is not just an invitation not to order on Amazon, it is also a positive petition for the benefit of local merchants and more sustainable e-commerce,” said MP Matthieu Orphelin. The petition also calls for laws to slow the development of the American digital giant in France. It calls for a ban on new warehouses and laws “that put an end to unfair competition and fiscal injustice between digital giants and physical and local stores”. They also ask for “useful laws for our economy rather than further increasing Jeff Bezos’ already delusional fortune”. “We have become, in spite of ourselves, a voice for some organizations that want to ensure better media coverage of the causes they represent,” Amazon France replied in a statement. “These groups rely, often voluntarily, on misleading information,” continues the French representation of the American giant. “Our business supports over 11,000 French entrepreneurs and merchants who rely on Amazon to keep their businesses and jobs going,” he explains. “We have invested more than € 9.2 billion in our French businesses since 2010 and are employing more than 9,300 people across the country to serve our customers.” “Our jobs provide excellent pay, comprehensive benefits, and great career opportunities – all in a positive, safe, and modern workplace,” insists Amazon.
The reactions in Italy
“This second wave is creating a very serious imbalance of competition between real shops and the web: while the former are closed by the government and the regions, the online sales channel actually acts and operates under monopoly conditions. very serious about the shops, especially in view of Christmas “. Thus Confesercenti comments on the petition “Christmas without Amazon”, launched by dozens of French personalities. “The risk is that trade, a sector that has already been in crisis for about a decade, will be definitively condemned to death by this imbalance. The problem is not to prevent online sales, but to realize the no longer deferred need to guarantee a truly competitive market. , in compliance with distribution pluralism. This is even more so in the current situation, which sees neighborhood businesses closed by administrative choice “.
And support for the French initiative comes from Maurizio Gasparri: “An idea that I feel I can fully share together with all my parliamentary colleagues and with the personalities of our cultural world who want to join”. This was declared by the senator of Forza Italia. “Our artisans, our traders, small businesses – he adds – are suffering an unprecedented crisis. Amazon instead increases its capital also relying on a sort of fiscal immunity that has no more reason to exist and against which Europe it must take measures. A competition that is impossible to sustain, which has impoverished our cities and which therefore needs important political choices “. “We have been asking for fair taxation for years, today we will also support this initiative. Even in this way Italians will be able to realize who is with them and who is kneeling in the power of the multinationals of the web”, he concludes.
In the evening, the National Consumers Union replies to Confesercenti: “Small shops also sell online – says the consumer association – The very small shops already do it. The solution to the problem of an imbalance in competition due to the Covid emergency and the lockdown is not going back to the stone age, boycotts or limiting the possibility of consumers being able to freely choose where to buy, even if this means favoring giants like Amazon “says Massimiliano Dona, president of the National Consumers Union. “Competition is achieved by increasing the offer, not reducing it. This is why it is good that all the members of Confcommercio and Confesercenti use the tool of online sales to tackle this crisis”, concludes Dona.
Could Salvini be missing? No, and indeed, a Out of the core, on Rete 4, the leader of the League produces a heartfelt defense of traditional values: “Do we want to leave our children the dream that baby Jesus arrives at Christmas? But is it normal for someone to go on TV and say let’s do gifts on Amazon? But enough of this Amazon, In France there is a petition ‘Christmas without Amazon’. Do we expect them to pay taxes? Early Christmas on Amazon? Let’s not joke, in a while we will make love on Amazon … “.
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