after Auchan and Michelin, Marc Ferracci plans new factory closures to come

ECONOMY – Auchan, Michelin… the list of companies preparing to close factories in France is likely to grow even longer. Industry Minister Marc Ferracci said he expected new announcements of industrial site closures “in the coming weeks and months”. These will affect “thousands of jobs”, he warned.

“There will probably be announcements of site closures in the coming weeks and months”declared the minister at the microphone of France Inter this Saturday, November 9, estimating that the social balance sheet “will be counted in thousands of jobs”. In response to these closures, he defended the need for a European response, particularly to support the automotive sector.

The minister, who went to Cholet this week to the site of one of the two Michelin factories slated for closure, was booed by the employees. The French tire giant announced to employees on November 5 the closure before 2026 of its Cholet and Vannes sites, which provide employment to 1,254 people.

Michelin's announcement, not “worthy”

Marc Ferracci criticized the way the announcement was made by the group. “The employees are upset, angry, we can understand it because the way in which the announcement was made to the employees was not a dignified manner”he assumed. “The employees were informed very late, Michelin management did not come to make the announcement to them directly, eye to eye, and that, I think, is regrettable”added the minister.

Michelin's commitment, “is that no one is left without a solution”he still recalled.

For the automobile sector in difficulty, for which he announced an emergency plan, Marc Ferracci praised a “approach to supporting the European automotive industry”. Among the measures mentioned, he pointed out “an ecological bonus on a European scale”or even a “common European loan” to finance “support mechanisms” to the sector.

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