Michel Barnier wants to “know” what Auchan and Michelin did “with the public money that we gave them”

Michel Barnier said on Tuesday that he wanted “know” what the Auchan and Michelin groups, which plan to close several sites, with thousands of jobs threatened, have done “public money that we gave them”. “I am not proud (…) of a policy that would destroy jobs, ever”added the Prime Minister before the National Assembly, questioned by the president of the communist group André Chassaigne during the government questions session.

“I am concerned to know what we did in these groups with the public money we gave them. I want to know it. And so we are going to ask questions and we will see if this money was used well or poorly to learn lessons from it.he developed. Michel Barnier said he was “disagree” with the decision of the Michelin automobile group to close its sites in Vannes (Morbihan) and Cholet (Maine-et-Loire), where a total of 1,254 employees work. He indicated that he had met his CEO Florent Menegaux “a few days ago”. The distributor Auchan, for its part, plans to cut 2,389 jobs, notably through the closure of around ten stores, in an attempt to revive itself after several complicated exercises.

The Prime Minister hoped that these groups could “working with the local fabric, local elected officials (…) unions, local employers, chambers of commerce” pour “put (…) together all the tools we have to support each employee individually and support these territories in the possibility of reconversion”. “We must create or recreate industrial employment, as well as maintain agricultural employment in our country”affirmed the head of government, referring to the creation at the beginning of 2025 of a “industrial savings book”as well as “European responses” with “less naivety” facing foreign competition “not always loyal”.