In France there are 20,000 villages where there is not a single trade, not even a bar, which “is usually the last survivor” in the process of desertification of rural areas. Guillaume Kasbarian, the promoter deputy in the National Assembly of a law proposal that seeks to make the procedures to obtain the necessary license to open in the nuclei of less than 3,500 inhabitants, where there are hardly any services, is explained.
In half a century the figure of bars has been divided by five: in the 60s, in rural France there were about 200,000 establishments of this type, “which are also part of the French culture”, and today there are less than 40,000. “There are places where there is nothing left and we see that there is a clear need to open them, because they are an economic and social engine,” explains the deputy of the president’s party, Emmanuel Macron. The proposal of law, which was voted at the end of March in the Assembly and must be validated by the Senate before being permanently approved, facilitates the creation of new “type IV” licenses, which where the sale of alcohol of more than 18 degrees is allowed.
The current law, dating from World War II, prohibits creating new permits arguing a public health issue, to avoid alcohol consumption. Therefore, an entrepreneur who wants to open a bar can only do so by buying the license of another person who will close his premises. This “obsolete law and nothing adapted to the current time” limits the activity. According to the deputies, many cannot assume the cost of permission, which varies depending on the size of the city. In small towns it can be around “7,000 or 10,000 euros, while in large cities it amounts to tens of thousands of euros.”
The new regulations seek to make the current more flexible, so that new free licenses can be authorized, in areas of less than 3,500 inhabitants where there is currently no bar. “It is about simplifying the procedures to entrepreneurs and lowering the bureaucracy of processes in these less attractive places, where it is already difficult to create a trade,” explains Kasbarian.
This “will allow revitalizing our rural areas and facilitating the lives of businessmen,” said the Minister of Commerce, Véronique Louwagie, in the debate in the Assembly. The Chamber validated the initiative with the support of all groups, despite the initial reluctance of some deputies of the left block. These claimed that the bars increase “this scourge is responsible for 41,000 premature deaths every year,” criticized Deputy Hendrik Davi, of the environmental group. The Left Party France insumisa fears that, taking advantage of this change of regulations, more bars are opened in large locations, where there is already offer.
A laps with alcohol
In the rural areas that it is consumed, it is purchased in large surfaces and distribution. “That there is no bar in the town does not mean that people are not going to drink, but that they buy alcohol in the store and consume it at home, while in an establishment this consumption is more associated with socialization and enjoyment,” says Kasbarian, former Minister of Housing, who believes that bars play somehow “a control role.” In small villages, bistós and bars “offer a multiservice model, fundamental to the population,” they propose a diversity of supply, because they also sell press, they make a delivery point and request for orders
The margin that entrepreneurs have on the alcohol they sell is greater than on other products, which “allows these entrepreneurs to balance the model, so that their business is profitable. Without alcohol the model would be deficient.” The norm has to pass the Senate cut, and it is expected that it can go into force in summer. According to the Association of Mayors of France, around 31,000 towns of less than 3,500 neighbors (over a total of 35,000) could benefit from this measure.
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