the essential
The cake made by the apprentices of the École des Métiers, offered to the prefect and elected officials of the department this Monday, January 13, 2025, was the opportunity for Christophe Passedat, president of the bakery union, to raise a rant against the public authorities. In the form of a cry for help.
“A pancake 90 centimeters in diameter which must weigh its weight in butter.” Placed on a large table in the entrance hall of Château Montauriol, the cake made at the CFA in Montauban by apprentices from the École des Métiers attracted all eyes this Monday, January 13, at the Hôtel du Département. But this traditional meeting at the start of the year took a different turn this time. Christophe Passédat, the president of the departmental bakery union, wanted to make it a platform to convey messages… and not many people were spared.
“We are not coming to bring the cake with joy this year. It is the national, regional and departmental events that are stuck in our throats,” explains the boss of “Chez Lucien”. The Tarn-et-Garonnais was traveling to Paris last week. “We are talking about simplification of standards but from words to actions, there is a big gap. During this meeting at the national bakery confederation, we were informed of the new standards which would come into force in 2026, taxation for sugar and that on biocides. The apprenticeship tax will also undergo a sharp increase.”
There is a word that I would have liked to hear from the mouths of all the deputies of France, it is the word compromise. We make compromises every day in our businesses.
Turning to MP Brigitte Barèges, Christophe Passedat evokes “a very eventful end of the year at the National Assembly, ridiculous to see and very damaging. There is a word that I would have liked to hear in everyone's mouth the deputies of France, that's the word compromise, we do it every day in our companies. I regret that the 577 deputies did not succeed in putting it into practice.” Addressing parliamentarians, he “simply invites them to consult us from time to time. At U2P, we have 602 members, local businesses that it would be good to listen to.”
DDM – PIERRE-JEAN PYRDA
Definitely in great shape, Christophe Passedat also asks Senator Pierre-Antoine Levi to send a message to the President of the Senate: “We are being asked to save money, there are undoubtedly models of armchairs that are just as comfortable and which do not cost not 34,000 euros excluding tax”. Taxes are at issue when the president of the bakery union talks about the explosion in the corporate property tax (CFE) voted by the Grand Sud Tarn-et-Garonne community of communes. And to cite the example of his colleague from Aucamville, Alexandre Haffner, who would have to sell 12,200 baguettes per year (“unthinkable”) to absorb the cost of this tax which has quadrupled in his case.
The only elected official who finds favor in the eyes of the baker boss, Michel Weill, “because he made not easy decisions, by reducing public spending, but when you have less money, you have to make do with it”.
“Indeed, times are hard. Things are not easy at the departmental council,” the president of CD 82 replied. “Our community can no longer collect taxes. We live with the money that the State is willing to give us . This morning we had a meeting and still 2 million to find.
“It’s time to wake up,” concludes Christophe Passedat. “We lost ten bakeries again this year. It was the same number in 2023. I would not want these wishes to turn into a permanent funeral.”
The final word will go to the prefect. Vincent Roberti underlines “the essential role of bakers in our everyday lives and a culture of taste defended in Tarn-et-Garonne by more than 200 establishments. The State is fully aware of the difficulties you are going through”. He lists the accessibility fund “which craftsmen do not use enough to bring their trade up to standard”, tax measures. Regarding the CFE, “the role of the departmental State also has its limits of intervention, but there is a financial services commission which can help companies get through this difficult stage”.
