French press sniff fake shoppers at minister's visit

A woman pushes a shopping cart at the entrance of a supermarket in southeastern France, March 23, 2009.

PARIS (Reuters) - A French supermarket chain said on Wednesday it arranged for some of its workers to be present at a visit by ministers to one of its shops which turned into a publicity nightmare for the politicians.

Journalists accompanying Education Minister Luc Chatel and Commerce Minister Herve Novelli on a supermarket visit southeast of Paris accused the ministers of using fake shoppers when a group of well-dressed women suddenly flooded the empty aisles.

In front of television cameras the women then praised a government-backed price freeze of certain stationery supplies before the start of the new school year.

"The management of Intermarche took the initiative to invite a certain number of workers for the ministers' visit," the store said in a statement issued in response to the stories.

It said Chatel and Novelli had nothing to do with the plan.

Chatel, who also acts as government spokesman in addition to holding the education portfolio, denied having anything to do with the operation, which he condemned.

"I am shocked by this action because it is against my principles and what I practice," he said.

One of the women in the supermarket was subsequently revealed to be Virginie Meyniel, a councilor from the ruling center-right UMP party in a town some 50-km (31 miles) away.

"Maybe Virginie Meyniel was there by coincidence, but you could doubt it," said Celia Quilleret, a journalist for France Info radio.

Meyniel said she just happened to be in the supermarket, which was mostly empty, as is usual in August.

Liberation newspaper, which carried a full-page report on the contested visit, noted that ministerial publicity stunts are not uncommon in France.

In 1990 then Tourism Minister Olivier Stirn was forced to resign after revelations a public question-and-answer session had been bolstered by paid supporters.

(Reporting by Thierry Leveque; writing by Sophie Hardach; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)