Automobile, steel, chemicals: in these three sectors particularly exposed to competition from the United States and China, Marc Ferracci, the Minister Delegate in charge of Industry, calls for the immediate implementation of “emergency plans” at the European level.
L’Express: You took part in the Competitiveness Council of the European Union on November 28 in Brussels. What was the purpose?
Marc Ferracci: This Council, which brought together my counterparts from across the European Union, aimed to draw lessons from Mario Draghi’s report unveiled at the beginning of September. This report draws a harsh but fair observation: European competitiveness has declined in twenty years compared to that of the United States. We must, without delay, and collectively, adopt a European industrial policy that will enable us to correct the situation.
The Americans and the Chinese are offensive and are articulating their trade policies and their industrial policies. The first, by massively resorting to subsidies for companies established on their soil and by using customs duties to make their products more competitive. The second, by developing industrial overcapacity in different key sectors – batteries, electric vehicles, steel, etc. – which allows them to flood global markets.
Europe must react to these trade imbalances. I am confident in the ability of the different Member States to find convergence to better coordinate this response. We observed this with Antoine Armand [NDLR : le ministre de l’Economie, des Finances et de la Souveraineté industrielle et numérique]the lines are moving. A consensus is forming on the need for a European emergency plan for the automobile sector, in particular with a view to avoiding sanctions for manufacturers who do not meet their electric vehicle objectives in 2025. With the steel, it’s the same thing: we must review the safeguard clause adopted in 2018, which established quotas and taxes to protect the European market from Asian imports, it is no longer sufficient.
What are France’s proposals to influence European industrial strategy?
They are based on three axes. First, we must continue to support demand for low-carbon products. Like the Germans, I am in favor of “pilot markets”, which require that the components of a product be manufactured in a carbon-free manner, very often in the European Union. The greening of corporate automobile fleets, for example, should benefit European manufacturers.
Then, once we agree on a common industrial ambition, we must be coherent on a commercial level. As long as Europe is just one big open market, we will be prey. The President of the Republic recently recalled: “If we decide to remain herbivores, the carnivores will win.”
Finally, we must put in place disincentives to avoid trade circumvention. An example: from 2026, European importers of carbon-intensive goods, such as steel, aluminum or cement, will have to pay a tax, the carbon border adjustment mechanism, if these Goods produced in China, or elsewhere, released more CO2 emissions during their manufacturing than European standards. This border tax risks being circumvented. Let’s address the problem now. It is a question of sovereignty but also of efficiency and justice.
The emergency plans that you defended in Brussels are centered on three sectors: automobiles, steel and chemicals. For better performance? The Court of Auditors, in a recent report, pointed out a French penchant for “sprinkling”, questioning in particular “the forty areas of investment” of the France 2030 plan…
We must distinguish between temporalities. Our proposals on emergency plans should result in a response from the European Commission within just a few weeks. I am also pleased that its president, Ursula von der Leyen, said that she wanted to start a “strategic dialogue” on the automobile industry. We must help manufacturers and subcontractors more systematically to accelerate their transition.
I visited the Forvia factory in Montbéliard at the beginning of October. On this site, employees who have until now worked on thermal exhaust pipes – destined to disappear in 2035 with the end of sales of new vehicles – are gradually being trained in the manufacturing processes for hydrogen tanks. Forvia is a large company, which can invest. But it is also Europe’s role to support its manufacturers in this shift. The France 2030 objective, which is a good plan, is more distant: it aims to position our country on disruptive technologies, such as small nuclear reactors, quantum… France 2030 is thus targeted on 10 objectives, and not 40 , which are the growth levers for tomorrow.
However, I am in favor of it also being able to support the current fabric of our SMEs and mid-caps, which are essential links in territorial cohesion. French industry must walk on its two legs: the future and the existing.
Michelin, Valeo, Sanofi… Announcements of social plans in the industry have been coming one after the other for several weeks. Are the measures that Michel Barnier has just presented – cross-functional mobilization of several ministries and administrative simplification – up to the challenge?
An interministerial task force, bringing together Labor, Industry and the Economy, is now meeting to support factories in difficulty which are looking for buyers. And if this is not possible, to support employees in their retraining and revitalize the regions. Social plans attract more media attention, and I understand that, than the creation of industrial jobs which are happening over time. However, they continue to progress, let us not forget that.
Since 2017, 130,000 industrial jobs have been created in France, including 28,000 last year. For this year, the figures are not yet known, but the trend concerning factories is positive: the State industrial barometer counts 400 net openings since 2022, including 36 in the first half of 2024. The situation is more complicated today, it’s true, due to post-Covid catching up and the geopolitical context. The reindustrialization of the country continues, but it is slowing down. Which requires us to be more vigilant and to activate new levers.
Thus, any new industrial site will now be exempt for five years from the regulatory constraints linked to zero net artificialization (ZAN). It will also be exempt from procedures before the National Commission for Public Debate (CNDP), similar procedures already being applied, to shorten the processing times for files.
These delays, after having decreased, have been at 13.4 months for two years. Is your goal still to bring them down to 9 months?
Absolutely. There has been progress in this direction on major projects. We should be able to do the same for the little ones. The important thing is not to change course. Because the visibility that we owe to all stakeholders is essential to continue to reindustrialize the country. And because moving quickly today is an attractive factor for international investments.
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