EuroCommerce calls for protection for non-food retailers

EuroCommerce, the branch organisation of the European retail and wholesale sector, wants non-food retailers to be added to the European Union list of the hardest-hit sectors. They may suffer terrible damages, the organisation says.

Review the list

EuroCommerce fully supports the measures taken in recent days to protect citizens from the coronavirus. “Rightly so, the focus hitherto has been to protect health and ensure access to food and other daily essentials. But we need to start looking at the economic fallout of the pandemic as well”, EuroCommerce says in a press release.

Specifically, EuroCommerce is asking for non-food retail to be added to the list of sectors severely affected by the corona crisis. This list was drawn up by the European Commission last week, before a number of Member States imposed strict restrictions on non-food shops. As a result, the sector was not included in the list.

One billion a day

According to EuroCommerce, non-food retailers in many Member States are losing half of their turnover. The organisation therefore fears bankruptcies, job losses and the disappearance of shops from city centres, especially if even more Member States were to decide on store closings. In Germany alone, the sector is said to lose one billion euros a day.

“We therefore ask that non-food retailers are included in any EU and national initiatives aimed at helping them over this difficult period. These financial stimulus measures, whether at EU or national level, are essential to maintaining a healthy EU economy during and after the crisis”, according to EuroCommerce.