the city of Lyon points to “prices” that are too high in France and in Europe
The ecological town hall of Lyon was strongly recommended for having ordered 450 down jackets, made in Bangladesh, to equip its agents. The first assistant responded to the controversy on Tuesday, pointing to excessively high prices from French and European suppliers.
After the controversy, the time for explanations. Last week, the environmental town hall of Lyon tried strong criticism after ordering 450 down jackets, made in Bangladesh, to equip its teams against the cold. The South union in the city of Lyon had notably pointed out contradictions between the “environmental, social and ethical” commitment of the municipality and the fact of ordering in a distant country with questionable working conditions.
Especially since this purchase was to be regulated by the Plan for the promotion of socially and ecologically responsible purchases (Spaser), set up by the town hall of Lyon and which frames the public purchases of the city with the watchwords “responsible and 100% sustainable”, both on the environmental impact and on the improvement of working conditions.
A “need to adapt the rules of public procurement”
In response, the first deputy mayor of Lyon, in charge of finance, public order and major events, Audrey Hénocque, published a series of tweets on Tuesday. She recalls that the decision to order down jackets was awarded for “allowing the sobriety plan and the necessary lowering of the heating”.
“No supplier on the current market – dating from February 2019 – could offer us jackets made in Europe, corresponding to our expectations and prices”, she assures.
And Audrey Hénocque underlined that “this controversy shows the need to adapt the rules of public procurement and the relocation of the textile industry”. It is also, according to her, “encouraging to note that this situation challenges”. “The level of consciousness is progressing!”, She welcomes.
250 euros in France against 30 in Bangladesh
In addition to her tweets, the first deputy also gave an interview to the Progress in which she reaffirms that, in this case, the city has “done (its) best, in a very short time”. If she concedes that “textiles remain a problem”, the elected official underlines that “for similar products, the prices of those made in France or in Europe are unaffordable and our overall budget on work clothes is not extensible” . The latter amounts to 200,000 euros per year.
If the city had ordered “made in France” down jackets, according to her, each piece would have cost “more than 250 euros”, against “30 euros” for those from Bangladesh. “So we come up against a principle of reality (…) It’s a shame that French products are no longer encouraged by the state,” she concluded.