Emmanuel Macron himself feared it in the middle of summer: “We are entering a complicated moment here.
The coming weeks, and even the fall, will be very difficult.
Socially, it will even be very hard ”, professed the Head of State to several members of the government meeting on August 10 in the Defense Council.
The announcement on Wednesday of the closure in 2021 of the Bridgestone tire plant in Béthune (Pas-de-Calais), with 863 employees potentially on the floor, confirmed the dreaded scenario.
On the same day, around a hundred employees of the Boiron laboratory demonstrated in front of the head office, near Lyon, to denounce the loss of 646 jobs out of a total of 2,400. And what about the 1,475 jobs threatened at Auchan!
“What will we do when there are 50 Bridgestones?”
At the height of power, already mired in the management of the health crisis, this succession of bad news, even predictable, comes at the wrong time.
“We have been fighting for weeks, on all fronts.
And frankly, France is not doing so badly.
Even the recession could be less severe than expected, notes a ministerial adviser.
But with these cascading social plans, the disaster risks winning the opinion ”.
While a minister is more direct: “I fear social tensions.
We are heading for a heavy economic shock.
What will we do when there are fifty Bridgestones?
», He worries.
A little music that we refuse to hear at Bercy.
"I am not defeatist", swore Bruno Le Maire this Thursday morning on CNews, betting on reindustrialization and relocation.
This is also the meaning of the 100 billion euro stimulus plan presented on September 3 by Jean Castex and himself.
And of course support and support plans for weakened sectors, such as the extension of partial unemployment in certain sectors.
“And then when we reduce production taxes on industrial companies and lower taxes on capital, it is a major boost for industries and workers,” insists Le Maire's entourage.
Macron remains on the lookout
"The idea is not to give up the competitiveness and attractiveness of French sites", engages an advisor from the Elysée, while explaining that Emmanuel Macron intends "of course to monitor the situation of all these files" , with possible trips to support threatened jobs.
In the meantime, the government has decided to bring together elected officials and unions next Monday in Bethune, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister Delegate in charge of Industry, said Thursday evening.
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Closure of the Béthune site: what can the government do?
An initiative that his number one political opponent, Marine Le Pen, did not expect.
This Thursday, the president of the RN went to Pas-de-Calais to meet Bridgestone employees.
A move decided in haste, as she had done during the between-rounds of the 2017 presidential election to discuss with the Whirlpools of Amiens (Somme).
The subject is therefore slipping into the political arena.
The Communist Party and rebellious France have also just stepped up to denounce the behavior of the Japanese manufacturer and called on Emmanuel Macron to "get wet".
Not really to the taste of the Elysee: "Our opponents play petty politics, asserts a close friend of the president.
If that is to be up to the challenges of the moment… ”
