The treasury of the INC group, at the head of the magazine, “is shrinking like nothing,” warns a member of the CSE.
Employee representatives from the National Consumer Institute (INC), which publishes the magazine 60 million consumersrequested urgent help from the government of Michel Barnier, otherwise the INC “will not survive the year 2025”in a letter consulted Friday by AFP. “On May 2 we learned from the voice of the Minister Delegate in charge of Business, Tourism and Consumption” of the time, Olivia Grégoire, “that a rebound scenario for the INC had finally been chosen”write employee representatives in a letter addressed to the new government team, consulted on Friday.
But it seems “questioned”they continue. They ask Prime Minister Michel Barnier, the Minister of the Economy Antoine Armand, and the Secretary of State for Consumer Affairs Laurence Garnier, if it is possible for them to “count on the financial contribution from the State to the tune of 3.2 million euros as promised?” “If not, considering the state of our cash flow, it is certain that the INC will not survive the year 2025”say the representatives of the fifty people working within the public establishment based in Malakoff, in Hauts-de-Seine.
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Employees of the magazine 60 Millions de consommateurs call to “save” the title
An “extremely perilous” situation
According to a member of the CSE interviewed by AFP on Friday, Bertrand Loiseau, the INC budget for 2025 must be presented to the CSE on Tuesday, November 19, before a board meeting scheduled for the end of the month. Lack of visibility on the aid granted by the State, particularly under the public service mission carried out by the INC, its situation can quickly become “extremely dangerous” due to cash “which shrinks to nothing”according to Bertrand Loiseau.
Last March, employee representatives called for “save” 60 million consumers, newspaper born in 1970 and “in danger” due to insufficient investments according to them. A parliamentary report in 2022 mentioned a “gradual reduction in the amount of subsidy” to the INC between 2012 and 2020, increased from 6.3 million euros to 2.7 million euros.
Created in 1966, the establishment is responsible for providing good information to consumers, and “promote responsible consumption”. It brings together a center for comparative testing of products and services as well as a department of legal and economic studies, it details on its website. Contacted by AFP on Friday, its management did not immediately react.
