Astonishment gave way to embarrassment. A week after the dissolution, economic circles watch with fear as the stock market price collapses, the markets panic, the “ spread », – the gap between French and German borrowing rates – is widening. And discovered, with concern, the first elements of the program of the National Rally or the New Popular Front. The qualifiers are flying: “dangerous”, “expensive”, “unrealistic”…
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But these words do not come out of employers’ conclaves. At the requests of La Tribune Sundaybusiness leaders respond: “The bosses are not intended to enter into the political debate. » Or : “What can we say when 40% of our employees or our customers vote at the extremes? »
According to them, any comment is unwelcome, even counterproductive. “We are hated, especially the big bosses… so if we speak out, we take the risk of making the RN or the left front rise further,” assures one of them. “Give voting instructions? But it’s the best way to further tense up the voters.” pleads another.
Great restraint
Counterproductive, this is also the argument that the U2P, an organization which brings together craftsmen and small entrepreneurs, put forward last Monday when the idea of a common expression germinated in the employers’ ranks. The day after the European elections, to denounce the danger that a majority held on July 8 by the RN camp would represent, the staffs of Medef and CPME attempted to write, together, a declaration. But the initiative quickly fizzled out.
Each therefore kept to a separate press release, tinged with great restraint. Patrick Martin (Medef) limited himself to insisting on “the need to continue reforms to consolidate and deepen them” by registering strongly “in the European game”. And to add that the employers’ organization “will support projects favorable to economic reforms and European ambition while respecting social democracy”. A real break, when ten years ago Laurence Parisot warned of the risk for businesses of the rise of the far right. In 2011, the boss of bosses named her enemy, Marine Le Pen, in a book entitled A navy blue trap.
The billions of euros of aid poured out
Annoyed by current employer caution, Bruno Le Maire nevertheless urged business leaders on several occasions this week to take a position. “Let economic circles get wet! » launched the Minister of the Economy on Tuesday on the airwaves. The next day, he reminded the 200 bosses of the Ethic movement of everything that Macronism has done for them: the work orders, the Pacte law to free the economy, aid for reindustrialization, the “green economy” law to facilitate factory installations, the reduction in corporate tax, the numerous reforms of unemployment insurance, the pension reform that they were calling for, the Choose France summits to attract foreign investors, tax-free bonuses for supporting the purchasing power of their employees, helping them to hire apprentices, etc.
Without forgetting the billions of euros in aid poured into businesses at the time of Covid, the tax and social exemptions and the checks sent when the Yellow Vests demanded wage increases, the support desks when energy prices were soaring, after the outbreak of war in Ukraine…
A violent disavowal for Macronie
The list is long, but nothing works. The applause remains sparse. To justify themselves, business leaders invoke pragmatism. “We are not in sentiment or morality, we have businesses to run, jobs to preserve, shareholders to satisfy; our job is to adapt,” summarizes an important industrialist.
Although very concerned about the situation, Afep, the French Association of Private Companies, which brings together almost the entire CAC 40, is struggling to break its silence: “Most of the activity of member companies takes place outside France. What’s the point of exposure when France barely represents 5 or 10% of turnover? » However, engaged in internal discussions, the association, which includes heavyweights like Patrick Pouyanné (TotalEnergies) or Bernard Arnault (LVMH), plans to speak out this week.
Fed up with standards
In the meantime, for Macronie, the disavowal is violent. “The bosses are cowards who show great ingratitude, fumes a minister. Remember: in Germany, in 1940, which side were the business leaders on? » The fact remains that the bosses do not feel bound by any contract. “For two years, this power has not heard us, pleads a member of Medef. The abolition of production taxes has been postponed, the unemployment insurance reform broadens the penalizing bonus-malus for businesses, the elimination of the Pinel tax loophole “shoots down” the construction sector… »
Not to mention that some are not insensitive to the theories of the RN: fed up with the standards imposed by Brussels, immigration, national preference for work, security… Small bosses are all the more at risk. listening that in recent months the RN teams have approached them in order to reassure them: yes, the exit from the euro is indeed buried, the repeal of the pension reform forgotten, the tax on superprofits abandoned …
The example of Italy
And the far right benefits from the pushback effect the left exerts on business circles. “The worst for the French economy would be Mélenchon and La France insoumise, a big boss is alarmed. We will not resist their hatred of capitalism, their desire to rob us. » The proof is, on Friday, Patrick Martin did not waste a second to react to the publication of the program of the New Popular Front: “The irrationality of the measures if implemented would lead to an explosion of deficits and debt. »
Compared to this, seen by the bosses, the RN program becomes almost reassuring. “Not to mention that there is an argument now well established in business circles: the example of Italy, where Giorgia Meloni moderated her economic program once in power,” explains Stéphane Boujnah, general manager of Euronext, a platform which manages the stock exchanges of Paris, Milan, Amsterdam, Brussels… A rare leader to express himself, he protests: “But, in reality, the RN has a different, radical, and dangerous economic project. » To carry out her seduction operation among business circles, the Italian far-right Prime Minister benefited from the mediation of former central banker Mario Draghi. It remains to be seen who in France plays this role today.
