Bad economic news is piling up at the end of 2024. Two massive social plans have just been announced, one at Auchan, the other at Michelin. The distribution giant has announced the elimination of 2,500 jobs throughout the country, and the Clermont-based tire heavyweight is preparing to close two factories, in Cholet and Vannes. Nearly 1,250 employees are affected.
The French tire manufacturer justifies its decision by increased Asian competition, but also by the “deterioration of Europe’s competitiveness”. Hearing before the Senate Economic Affairs Committee, ahead of the upcoming budget discussion, the Minister of the Economy and Finance Antoine Armand was invited to speak on this dark news on the employment front. “The automotive sector is in an extraordinarily difficult economic situation. The cost of energy, the international situation, the cost of raw materials, Asian overcapacity: there are many deep reasons, which weigh and which will continue to weigh on the sector, and which will continue to lead to decisions of “Undoubtedly extremely difficult undertakings in the coming weeks,” warned the minister.
“Without alarmism”, Antoine Armand then repeated during the hearing that it would be “probable” that there would be other bad economic news “in the months to come”. “We have to prepare for it,” he insisted. Many sectors are currently in difficulty. In a study published in mid-October, the Altares firm put the number of business failures over twelve months at 66,000, “a record”, which raises “fear of long-term consequences for employment”.
Conditionality of public aid: the minister turns to the social partners
In Puy-de-Dôme, cradle of the equipment manufacturer Michelin, the company’s situation worries parliamentarians. Jean-Marc Boyer, LR senator from the department, also surveyed the government on the actions it was going to take to support employees. Antoine Armand insisted on the importance of having “individualized monitoring” for reclassifications, and on the speed of looking for possible buyers by bringing together all the players. “As of this week, so that we do not waste time, so that we do not leave employees in areas of uncertainty,” he insisted.
Asked this Tuesday for current questions to the government of the National Assembly, Prime Minister Michel Barnier replied that he wanted to know “what we did in these groups with the public money that we gave them” . Communist senator Fabien Gay echoed his words, asking if the government intended to commit to the conditionality of public aid. “Are you ready to condition the 182 billion each year of public money? We don’t need words, now we need actions,” thundered the senator. In its department, a Stellantis subcontractor, MA France, cut nearly 300 jobs.
“I have no religion regarding public assistance. I do not consider that public aid to businesses must be by design free and without any form of condition, nor that it must be conditional every time. In fact, public aid is always conditional,” replied the minister. According to the former Renaissance MP, this debate on aid must be carried out by the social partners. “They are the best people to do it. This involves salaried employment, business representatives, and employee representatives. »
Relaunched by Senator LR Daniel Gremillet on the “fragile” situation in the automotive sector, the Minister of the Economy specified that he would bring together a strategic sector committee, to ensure in particular that relations between construction and equipment manufacturers “ be better.”
The minister insists on the construction site competitiveness at the European level, and sets as a prerequisite reducing the public deficit
Within the European Union, the various brands are facing massive investments to meet the European objective of banning the sale of combustion engine vehicles in 2035. But another deadline, much closer, is deeply worrying the sector . From 2025, the EU is requiring car manufacturers to reduce the average threshold for carbon dioxide emissions from cars produced by 15%, under penalty of fines amounting to billions of euros. However, the greater than expected slowdown in sales of electric cars is putting the various brands in difficulty. “What will be the consequences of a fine, at a time when it is difficult to invest? » asked the minister.
Antoine Armand must raise the subject with his partners in Berlin on Friday. According to him, we must “move forward in a concerted manner, in compliance with the rules, so that the modalities are somewhat adapted to what manufacturers are experiencing. »
More generally, Antoine Armand indicated that the “right answer” would “unfortunately take time”. “It must be started now at European and national level, on the question of the cost of competitiveness,” he added. An imperative issue for the French government, which wants to avoid Europe “disconnecting” from the American and Chinese economies.
To have “leadership” on this agenda at the European level, Antoine Armand made the link with the finance bill, currently under debate in Parliament, and on the need to appear credible in the eyes of other European capitals, by reducing the French public deficit. “When the French Minister of Economy and Finance comes to defend this in European circles, obviously our partners look at the state of our public finances. Obviously, they see that we have 3,300 billion in debt, that we are the third most indebted country in the European Union,” he warned.
