La France insoumise calls for a parliamentary commission of inquiry into public aid paid to the company

LFI would like to know in particular how it is possible for Michelin to “combine massive layoffs, benefit of public aid and record payments to shareholders over the same period”.

The group of deputies La France insoumise – NFP is calling for a parliamentary commission of inquiry into public aid paid to the Michelin company, franceinfo learned from LFI. The rebellious deputies declare having tabled a motion for a resolution to create this commission on Thursday, November 7.

On Tuesday, November 5, the multinational announced the closure by 2026 of its factories in Vannes (Morbihan) and Cholet (Maine-et-Loire), where around 1,200 people work. This parliamentary commission of inquiry, if its creation is well accepted by the conference of group presidents, “would allow us to understand why it (Michelin) is possible to combine massive layoffs, benefit of public aid and record payments to shareholders over the same period”affirms LFI.

Questioned by the communist deputy for Puy-de-Dôme, André Chassaigne, on the dismissal and restructuring plans announced by Michelin or Auchan on Tuesday, during Questions to the Government in the National Assembly, the Prime Minister declared that he too , THE “concern to know what we did in these groups with the public money we gave them”. “We will ask questions and we will see if this money was used well or badly to learn lessons”assured Michel Barnier.

“We can thus cite 42 million euros for the research tax credit in 2023, more than 65 million euros due to the tax credit for competitiveness and employment (CICE) since 2013, 12 million euros for partial unemployment in 2020, or the 2020 automobile support plan with a fund of 200 million euros”list La France insoumise in its press release.

At the same time, the parliamentary group denounces the attitude of the world tire leader regarding the remuneration of its shareholders. “The sums of dividends and share buybacks amounted to 456 million euros in 2020 and 410 million in 2021. After they more than doubled to reach 923 million in 2022 and 892 million in 2023, the company announced that it wanted to increase these sums to a record amount of 1.464 billion euros for the year 2024. The company even announced last February the launch of a new share buyback program of up to 1 billion euros between 2024 and 2026″calculates LFI.