Paris (France) (AFP) – Eurelec, the European purchasing center of French distributor E. Leclerc, was fined more than 33 million euros for not having respected last year the deadline set to complete commercial negotiations with certain French suppliers, the Fraud Repression announced on Monday.

Published on: 02/16/2026 - 11:39

“A fine of 33,537,615 euros was imposed” against “the company Eurelec Trading SCRL (LECLERC) for 70 breaches of its obligation to sign agreements concluded with its French suppliers no later than March 1, 2025,” specifies the General Directorate for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) in a press release.

Eurelec, an international center based in Brussels, which also includes the German giant Rewe and the Belgian-Dutch supermarket chain Ahold Delhaize, had already been fined a record 38 million euros in 2024 for similar reasons, four years after a previous fine of 6.34 million euros.

“As soon as the commercial negotiation concerns products intended for marketing in France, and whatever the law of the contract, the agreements are subject to the provisions” provided for in the commercial code, recalls the DGCCRF.

Every year, from December 1 to March 1, supermarkets and suppliers conduct negotiations, sometimes brutal, which ultimately determine the shelf prices of products (excluding distributors' own brands).

European power plants are regularly accused of subverting French legislation.

Distributors defend them as a means of gaining leverage against multinationals, as Michel-Edouard Leclerc, president of the strategic committee of E.Leclerc centers, leader in France, recalled Monday on Public Senate, before the announcement of the sanction.

Asked whether Eurelec made it possible to escape French Egalim laws, which aim to protect farmers' remuneration, Mr. Leclerc denounced "political bullshit".

"Do I have any litigation files which would say that we have not respected agricultural raw materials? To my knowledge, no", he replied, adding that his group was negotiating with "large multinationals", such as Nestlé and Unilever, which according to him do not represent "the interests of French farmers".

© 2026 AFP

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