PARIS - Amazon is under fire in France, where a number of elected officials, union leaders and NGOs want to boycott the U.S. company for Christmas. Critics accuse the technology giant of taking advantage of COVID lockdowns and of engaging in unfair competition with small shop owners. The company says it is generating many jobs in France.
“Dear Santa Claus, this year, we want to celebrate Christmas without Amazon” - that is the beginning of a petition
that signed by almost 25,000 people in France as of Thursday.
The mayor of Paris, Greenpeace, and some
famous French writers have all added their names to the petition.
Critics accuse the U.S. company of tax
evasion, social dumping and not being environmentally friendly. Among their
biggest complaints is that Amazon continues to operate and make huge profits
amid the pandemic while local shop owners remain closed due to the health
restrictions in France.
Matthieu Orphelin is the French lawmaker
who initiated the call to boycott Amazon for Christmas.
“We invite people to purchase their
Christmas gifts from local merchants," Orphelin said. "All around the
world, Amazon is killing the local economy thanks to their aggressive business
model. We do not fight against innovation, but we want to protect our welfare
state, our planet, our local economy from predators like Amazon.”
Labeled as non-essential, gift shops and
many others are in distress. Small businesses fear they might not recover from
the second lockdown and blame what they say is unfair competition from Amazon.
Francis Palombi is the head of the
French federation of small retailers. He says Amazon has been
accumulating sales over the past months in France while small shops remain
closed for a second time due to the pandemic.
The online retail giant has seen a sales
boost in the range of 40 to 50 percent according to Fredric Duval, director of
Amazon in France. Duval went on French public radio and said he is sorry that
opponents describe Amazon as the villain while the American company has
developed business in France and has invested roughly $11 billion dollars in the country since 2010. Duval also says
that Amazon creates direct and indirect jobs and 130,000 people in France work
thanks to Amazon.
Under COVID guidelines, small shops will soon reopen according to tentative, unconfirmed plans by the French
government. President Emmanuel Macron will speak in the coming days to
confirm whether the government plans to lift the lockdown.
From VOA (edited)
