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Pharmacists were the latest profession to
challenge President Francois Hollande's plans to deregulate
their activities following a first-ever street protest earlier
this month by notaries.
Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron hopes to give the euro zone's
second-biggest economy a boost by shaking up regulations that
currently give 37 professions, ranging from court clerks to taxi
drivers, a monopoly-like grip on their industry.
Pharmacists are worried that the reform will allow supermarkets
to sell over-the-counter drugs and pave the way to big outside
investors buying up owner-run pharmacies.
About 97 percent of the pharmacies not ordered by law to remain
open remained shuttered on Tuesday, according to the national
order of pharmacists.
Big retailers like supermarket chain E.Leclerc are lobbying hard
to win the right to sell non-prescription drugs, including by
airing prime-time television spots.
Macron, a 36-year-old former investment banker who was also
previously Hollande's top economic adviser, said there were many
false ideas circulating about the deregulation bill, which he
aims to present at the end of the year.
"The bill aims to modernise the country in order to create
activity wherever it's possible and to lower prices for
households and companies," Macron said in an interview with
regional newspaper Paris-Normandie.
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Natalie Huet)
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