137 billion: these are the historic profits of the major CAC 40 companies made last year. Record profits, due in part to state aid during the Covid crisis, and which will mainly be donated to shareholders alone.
So… “ we share ? “, spear Release on the front page. Indeed, ” that businesses are doing well and generating profits is very good news. This means they are healthy and creating jobs. This has been felt for several months: they are hiring and we can only rejoice. Corn, wonders Freed, where are the droplets of this runoff evoked five years ago by Emmanuel Macron to justify the end of the solidarity tax on wealth and a single flat-rate levy of 30% on capital income? Why do the vast majority of employees stick their tongues out while shareholders reap the profits (…)? The difference in treatment between these two sections of society is eminently dangerous, valued Liberation, because it further increases inequalities and creates resentment, if not anger. The presidential candidates have understood this well and are finally presenting purchasing power as one of their priorities. »
The debate on the sharing of values
Free Charente is on the same line: wherever inflation is progressing at a worrying rate, this upward flow of wealth is widening the inequalities between colossal fortunes and the middle and working classes plunged into traps of precariousness. In France, the refusal to tax these superprofits, at the risk of compromising economic recovery and slowing down energy transition investments, is accompanied by one-off measures such as the energy tariff shield to cushion a drop in purchasing power considered transitory the picture of inflation. With an executive in dire straits in the face of a possible soaring in food prices and protests, this debate deserves to take its place in a presidential campaign worthy of its stakes. »
” CAC 40, what to do with superprofits? », wonders The cross. “ In a context of galloping inflation and rising fuel prices, these staggering figures rekindle the debates on the sharing of value, wage differentials and the taxation of multinationals. (…) Among the employees, we of course believe that the time has come to redistribute part of this jackpot. For months, trade unionists have been trying to obtain wage increases, while the obligatory annual negotiations have been completely blocked during the health crisis. »
Accelerate the energy transition!
What to do with superprofits? In the field of energy – 10 billion in profits worldwide – it is clear, for The world : they ” must make it possible to accelerate the transition, or else be returned to consumers.»
And the debate does not only take place in France…” ‘It’s not fair that the oil companies are raking in super profits while people are afraid just to turn on their radiators’, exclaimed Ed Davey, the leader of the British Liberal Democrats Party, asking for a windfall tax on these profits. This claim, also made by Labor, is based in particular on the example of France, which did not hesitate to tax EDF to reduce the electricity bill of the French. »
And then emphasize again The worldthe area “ must invest heavily in the energy transition. This is the current problem. Earn on the dirty, the oil, to invest in the clean, the renewable. (…) The superprofits should make it possible to go faster. Otherwise, they must be returned to consumers. »
Presidential campaign: Eric Woerth stands behind Emmanuel Macron
Finally, the presidential campaign: with the rallying of Éric Woerth, heavyweight of the right, to Emmanuel Macron…
The interested party explains this morning in The Parisian : “ I think Emmanuel Macron is best able to defend the interests of France and the French people. I am not transgressive by nature, I understand that this can cause surprise. But I deeply believe that a second term for Emmanuel Macron would be an opportunity for France, as it would have been for Nicolas Sarkozy. »
Comment of Parisian : “ it is a great loss for Valérie Pécresse. “And it is also” a sign that this Republican candidacy is struggling to find its place. “Stuck between” Emmanuel Macron who has governed for 5 years with Bruno Le Maire and Gérald Darmanin » and Eric Zemmour « whose muscular speech on immigration and security is shared with a few small nuances by Eric Ciotti. Difficult, under these conditions, for Valérie Pécresse to hold a clear line. »