Eighty six members of the French National Assembly signed a petition yesterday calling for a boycott on Danone products. The French food giant sparked protests after it announced that it was to close several production facilities in France. The situation was exacerbated early this year when Le Monde newspaper reported on a memo leaked by an employee revealing cynical decision-making processes and implying a cover-up.
The petition was launched by the Attac group of the National Assembly. “We find ourselves forced, as parliamentary members but also as citizens and consumers, to oppose the cynical behaviour of the multinational corporation and to indicate in this way our solidarity with its employees,” declared the cross-party initiators of the petition. They include National Assembly members Yves Cochet, Yann Galut, Jean-Claude Lefort, Georges Sarre and Chantal Robin-Rodrigo. They are calling for “a recovery of the public subsidies given to companies which use the general public to support the costs of their own profitability.”
School canteens in four socialist backed towns have already started to boycott Danone food products.