The mayor of Bourg-en-Bresse takes an order to close the “non-essential” departments of supermarkets

Faced with competition problems between small shops and supermarkets, the PS mayor of Bourg-en-Bresse, Jean-François Debat, announced on Saturday that he had issued an order to close the shelves of “non-essential” products in the large distribution of his common. “My position is clear and is the same as (that of) a lot of other mayors: that there are firm measures, I accept them and accompany them. In times of health crisis, we show responsibility. I will not sign a text to open the shops, ”said Jean-François Debat, who is also chairman of the board of directors of the hospital center.

On the other hand, “for a rule to be respected, it must be respectable. It is not fair to be able to buy toys in supermarkets and not in a store, or to buy clothes or shoes, household appliances while shopping for food, ”explained the elected official. “I think this initiative combines respect for government rules with fairness and justice. In the situation in which the country finds itself, we must not add tension, ”said the socialist official.

He “asks the government to do this in the whole of France as it was done for the books on Friday”. Its own decree “closing the shelves of hypermarkets and supermarkets dedicated to non-essential products” will take effect from Monday. Since Friday, many mayors have taken symbolic orders to allow small traders to remain open during the reconfinement. The prefectures concerned announced one after the other to refer these municipal decisions to the administrative court to have them suspended.