Alexandre Bompard, Carrefour’s chairman and chief executive, warned the French government on Tuesday that customers had sharply cut spending, particularly on essentials, and that retailers were facing a “tsunami” of savings, Reuters reported.

Bompard is among the French retail executives who will meet with French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Wednesday to discuss the cost-of-living crisis, which has affected France like other European countries.

The head of Carrefour said he would ask the French government for a “one-year moratorium on the application of the Descrozailles law”, which limits the promotions companies can offer on beauty, care and hygiene products.

“We faced a tsunami of austerity in France. When essential products are no longer available, when people are left without essential goods, measures must be taken,” Bompard told Franceinfo radio in an interview on Tuesday.

The head of Carrefour blames the law, which benefits only 3 companies

Next March, Descrozail’s law is due to come into effect, limiting to 34% the discount retailers can offer on the products the Carrefour boss mentioned. In this sense, he gave the example that the supermarket chain now offers a 60% discount on washing powder.

According to Paris authorities, the law, criticized by Carrefour’s CEO, will balance the relationship between retailers and manufacturers when negotiating prices.

But limiting discounts to 34% has been widely criticized by retailers, who say it limits their bargaining power with major manufacturers.

Bompard told Franceinfo that the law only helps three large multinationals: Henkel, Unilever and Procter & Gamble.

The French government is putting new pressure on retailers and manufacturers to lower prices

His comments came after Bruno Le Maire announced in March that he had received assurances from 75 food manufacturers that they would cut prices on hundreds of products. But last month his deputy said that so far only about 40 manufacturers have fulfilled this obligation.

But Le Maire on Tuesday gave new assurances that he would increase pressure on the sector.

“We are on the right track. Prices are coming down now because we have intervened, because we have put pressure on retailers and manufacturers and because we will continue to do so,” he said.

“I am meeting with retailers tomorrow and the day after tomorrow with manufacturers (…) with one goal: to accelerate the fall in prices,” he emphasized.

The French finance minister said he would ask during these meetings to expand the range of goods for which sellers and producers would make efforts to lower prices.

In May, he threatened the food industry with a “return” of the tax, accusing it of making big profits at a time when the French faced a record rise in the cost of living.