The effort to simplify economic life did not die with the dissolution. So much the better ! The fiscal shock set to music by Bercy, brutal and poorly prepared, will necessarily have negative consequences on business activity. The way to counterbalance, at least partially, this bad policy is through a shock of simplification, but while remaining lucid. A fiscal shock has an immediate negative impact. A simplification shock has a positive impact spread over time.
Behind each standard, civil servants
This is the reason why different governments have rarely been motivated to simplify and debureaucratize. This policy is, moreover, not in the interest of an administration which gains power through normative control of the economy. The Bercy models, of rather Keynesian inspiration, have difficulty demonstrating a significant macroeconomic advantage linked to simplification. But this argument should not be a justification for conservatism because it poorly takes into account the potential gain from simplification. This makes it possible to reduce business costs, facilitate reindustrialization, make France more attractive to foreign investors and also regulate public spending.
It must be remembered that behind each standard there are civil servants responsible for setting it to music, enforcing it and controlling it. All these costs exist but they are difficult to objectify. Furthermore, experience has shown that past simplification “shocks” have come to naught, the most successful example (sic) in this area being that of François Hollande, announced with a bang in March 2013. What remains- today? Almost nothing, or even worse. Ask our farmers. The shock of simplification consisted, in this case, of putting the standards on the table, studying them and, sometimes, supplementing them. A nightmare.
A liberal minister, in a team that hardly has any
Can we escape this syndrome this time? It’s possible. The text was prepared by Bruno Le Maire, in consultation with the companies who were able to submit their requests. It is today in Parliament and it is defended in the government by the Minister of Civil Service and Simplification Guillaume Kasbarian*, a representative of liberal thought within a team which hardly has any. As a deputy, Guillaume Kasbarian stood out for an excellent anti-squat law which required a firm fight against left-wing right-thinking. Minister, he proposes to align the rules of public sick leave with those of the private sector: bold and courageous. Let us hope that he will show the same stubbornness so that the parliamentary process ultimately makes life easier for businesses. From the rules of public calls for tender to the inflation of Cerfa forms, there is no shortage of food to grind.
Unfortunately, this text, even if it goes far, will not be able to address the French evil at the root: normative madness. A law can reduce a stock, not dry up a flow. Let’s imagine that it reduces the number of standards by 20%, which would already be colossal, but that the flow of new regulations causes said stock to increase by 5% per year, we understand that the legislative effort of 2024 will quickly be erased.
There is no risk of overdoing it
It is the same with standards as with public spending: the fundamental problem is not technical but cultural. Our country demands protection: for each problem its Théodule committee, for each Théodule committee its law, for each law its officials. The law on the simplification of economic life is an ardent necessity and we must hope that it sweeps as widely as possible because, in this area, the risk of doing too much does not exist. But so that this effort is not destroyed by the interventionist reflex, a real overall political project must be proposed to the French. That of a society of adults, who do not turn to the State to protect them from the slightest risk.
Guillaume Kasbarian will be present at the Meetings of the future of Saint-Raphaël, from November 8 to 10, of which L’Express is a partner, alongside Gérald Bronner, Agnès Buzyn, Yascha Mounk and Nicolas Sarkozy. Free registrations onwww.rencontres-avenir.com
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