To revive industry, there are these gigafactories that the President of the Republic and his ministers are rushing to inaugurate. “Giga” that catches the eye, and gives beautiful images to the news. And then, in the technicality of the debates on the finance bill, there are these “micro” measures, which often travel under the radar. Louis Gallois, the former boss of EADS, activated his and spotted a “bad signal”, as he opened up to the Echoes : by reducing the reductions in social contributions granted until now to companies on intermediate salaries – between 2.5 and 3.5 minimum wage – the government, in its frantic quest for savings to complete the 2024 budget, risks carrying a a serious blow to our resurgent industry.
The challenge ? 550 million euros less margins for the sector within three years, which “will inevitably have an impact on the investment capacity of industrial companies”, deplores Louis Gallois, who had defended, and obtained, these reductions in a founding report, in 2012, on French competitiveness.
Last August, the reduction in production taxes, the other lever to allow the French industry to regain market share, had already been put through the mill at Bercy, with the complete abolition of the CVAE sliding from 2024 to 2027. Two snags in the contract, justified, according to the executive, by the state of public finances. By undressing Pierre to dress Paul, the Élysée ambition to rebuild the France factory is hanging by a thread.