In the Channel, social dumping and price wars are damaging French companies. The Secretary of State for the Sea and Biodiversity, Hervé Berville, signed on Tuesday March 19 the decrees of the Le Gac law, which limits unfair competition. Its provisions could, however, be challenged by Brussels.
L’Express: For almost two years, ferries departing from Calais to Dover flying the French flag have been victims of a form of unfair competition from two companies flying the Cypriot flag. The law whose decrees you have just signed should come into force at the beginning of summer. Is the problem resolved?
Hervé Berville: This law and the rapid and collective action of the government with parliamentarians, regions, departments, unions, illustrate the desire to respond to a scandalous situation practiced by companies with little scrupulous regard for the well-being of their sailors and safety at sea. This law is therefore part of the President of the Republic’s commitment to fight against social dumping. We cannot allow this type of behavior to pass because it is not the social model we want for our maritime economy. We achieved something quite unprecedented: between the moment when I received the file, that is to say in July 2022, and the moment when the law was passed, less than ‘a year. An extremely short time. This desire to move quickly was guided by the need to protect French sailors and also French companies.
Is the survival of French companies really at stake?
Yes, French companies are being hit hard by this unfair and deadly competition. It is a sector very exposed to competition. But the economy must not be the law of brutality and the infernal spiral that drags down the rights of seafarers. I am for fair competition and level playing field. Behind these practices, this also raises the subject of the safety of travelers on these boats. The Pas-de-Calais Strait is one of the busiest in the world. Sailors who work four months straight to complete several rotations per day, you can imagine the level of fatigue!
But the decrees risk being attacked, don’t you fear that this French law will be challenged by Brussels?
If the decrees are attacked, this clearly shows that they already have an impact, otherwise they would not be. These decrees have three objectives: to protect the French social model, to guarantee the competitiveness of our companies because they provide sailors and to send a signal to say that we are going to take this fight to the European level. Concretely, there are three advances: obligation of a minimum hourly wage for all sailors who operate on the cross-Channel, equivalence between working time and rest time, and doubling of criminal sanctions compared to what is done at land as well as administrative sanctions. And because the subject of social dumping does not only concern the cross-Channel, we are also creating administrative sanctions for the rest of our waters such as in the Mediterranean or for future wind farm projects. We will see what happens in Brussels. Irish Ferries and P&O have already attacked these texts with the European Commission. But we managed to convince the European Commission, which did not want to open up this subject, to let us move forward. At this point, she wants to review our decrees.
Today, the French pavilion is less competitive than other European pavilions, not to mention that of Cyprus. Is this sustainable?
Sovereignty can combine competitiveness and protection. Protection of sailors, our fellow citizens and the environment. This is why we imposed the French flag for passenger transport. We also have the RIF, the French international register, which is more flexible and allows elements of competition to be taken into account. The French maritime economy is, like other sectors of the economy, facing obstacles from companies or countries that want to launch into an unbridled economy. But the maritime is an element of sovereignty that must be protected. If we want people to come and work in this sector, we need an attractive environment. But we have an enormous source of jobs in maritime transport, in offshore wind power, in underwater exploration, and we need protective working conditions.
But is Europe not allowing this unbridled intra-European competition to take place, with the famous flags of convenience?
I think it’s the opposite! If we are here today to talk about a law on the cross-Channel, it is not Europe’s fault. This is because a country, in this case the United Kingdom, left Europe and was able to break away from common rules. This shows that we need Europe.
But there is still no real social harmonization…
You are right, there is no harmonized social policy. On the maritime side, this has never been a priority subject. But things are moving. We are taking this fight to the European level. This is why we must be at the forefront by being the most protective. We must govern by example and proof. Furthermore, the subject of social dumping in the maritime sector must be one of the priorities of the next Commission. We cannot have a carbon-free maritime sector with such degraded social conditions. Obviously, it will be complicated. We did it on road transport, we must do it on maritime transport.
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