Shedding French red tape to attract investors, without, however, making concessions on environmental requirements. This is one of the missions that Bercy has set itself to promote the country's industrial revival during this period of crisis.
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The Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery, in charge of Industry Agnès Pannier-Runacher and the Minister of Cohesion of the territory Jacqueline Gourault present this Monday 72 industrial sites " turnkey ", intended to simplify the very long deadlines for setting up a factory in France. " Manufacturers are sometimes reluctant to settle in France because they have the impression that the deadlines are always longer than elsewhere, " said Agnès Pannier-Runacher this morning at the microphone of RFI.
Obtaining the precious building permit in three months
To overcome the bad reputation of France, the State guarantees with these industrial sites a period of three months for obtaining the precious building permit and nine months for environmental authorizations. " It is two to three times less than the usual times ", explains the Minister for Industry. To do this, the public authorities, in particular the sub-prefects, undertake upstream studies prior to construction and relating to the environment, biodiversity, town planning or pre-archaeological excavations. Investigations of the site are also completed to verify that it is well equipped in infrastructure.
At the Choose France summit in Versailles earlier this year, the Head of State Emmanuel Macron had already presented a catalog of twelve “ turnkey ” industrial sites to French and foreign investors. We can cite, for example, the industrial-port zone of Le Carnet in the Pays de la Loire region, the logistics and industrial park of Asco Fields in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, the Couronnes innovation center in Normandy or the Boitardière business park in Center-Val de Loire. With the health crisis, no discussions around the first sites have yet resulted.
Simplify the standard
Faced with complaints from industrialists tired of administrative difficulties to create new production sites, the government had opened before the health crisis the site of the simplification of procedures. The turnkey site project was already in the pipeline since September 2019. “ We would like these deadlines to become the norm, we are working on it. However, you have to be realistic, there are sites where you have to investigate for a longer time to ensure that it is ready for use, ”said Agnès Pannier-Runacher.
In addition, the Senate adopted this weekend an amendment of the Castex government which provides for an envelope of 490 billion euros to revive the industry. “This envelope will be used in concrete terms to support the digitization of SMEs and decarbonize industries. A special budget has been allocated to facilitate relocation. "