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Crossroads in Paris: a France designed to be more modern, greener, more competitive and more social
Photo: THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
Emmanuel Macron set the tone last week: The French government's reconstruction plan should not be a short-term answer to the crisis, not just a recovery plan for the ailing economy, but an investment in the country's future.
With "France Relance", Macron explained, the aim is to prepare France for 2030.
A France that should be more modern, greener, more competitive and more social than it is up to now.
Much greener and more social than Macron's election manifesto had envisaged in 2017.
The strategy was set: The investments announced today are not only intended to save the country, but fundamentally change it - in accordance with and continuation of Macron's economic policy, only slightly different than expected.
"If we do not react now, we will miss the opportunity that is currently emerging in financial and macroeconomic terms," said the President.
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Prime Minister Jean Castex: France's worst crisis since 1929
Photo: Ludovic Marin / dpa
And so his Prime Minister Jean Castex announced today, in the presence of several ministers, 70 different measures and a 100 billion euro plan that exceeds everything that previous governments have so far launched as rescue plans.
The most frequently used words during the one and a half hour presentation were therefore probably "historical" and "unique".
Almost four times more is being invested this time than in the financial crisis in 2008 to cushion the consequences of the corona pandemic and the eight-week, strict lockdown in France.
"This plan prepares the future"
Between April and June alone, the gross domestic product in France fell by 13.8 percent;
According to calculations by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, it will probably be eleven percent by the end of the year.
Castex spoke right at the beginning of the country's worst crisis since 1929. This plan corresponds to the exceptional situation in which the country is currently, the prime minister had previously stated in an interview with "Figaro": "He is not satisfied with To put plasters on the wounds of the crisis. This plan prepares the future. "
100 billion should now save, modernize and make the French economy fit for the future.
And he defines three priorities for this:
the ecological restructuring of the economy,
increasing the competitiveness of French companies
and social cohesion, and in particular the preservation and creation of jobs.
The first point is already remarkable.
30 billion euros are earmarked for France's businesses and industry to become greener.
This includes the thermal insulation of public and private buildings, the further development of green technologies and an environmentally friendly transport system.
Smaller railway lines and freight traffic by rail are to be massively expanded, as is a cycle path system.
The new environment minister, Barbara Pompili, a former Green, spoke of a "giant step for ecology in France".
It is not a matter of reconstruction, but of restructuring the economy.
The second major area in which investments are made is the competitiveness and sovereignty of the French economy.
The plan provides for 35 billion euros for this, 20 billion of which will be allotted to the waiver of various previously mandatory levies, primarily to relieve small and medium-sized companies.
French companies pay far more taxes than German companies: almost 28 percent compared to around 17 percent in Germany.
Billions more are to flow into the relocation of strategically important sectors - a project that President Macron announced at an early stage of the pandemic.
Among other things, drugs and food are to be produced more in France again in order to make the country independent of foreign imports.
500,000 jobs in the coming years
28 billion are reserved for the third priority - social cohesion.
Over six billion are to be invested in the so-called "Plan Jeune" for the employment of young French people.
"That has to be our first priority," said Castex.
500,000 jobs are to be created for young French people in the coming years.
Companies that employ young workers are offered a bonus of 4,000 euros.
Youth unemployment is currently 21 percent, while the general unemployment rate is only 7.1 percent thanks to the state-financed short-time work - eight million workers currently benefit from it.
The fight against precarity remains a constant of this government, stressed Castex.
In addition, the prime minister kept the promise to better equip hospitals and old people's homes.
Six billion are earmarked for this item.
Each individual project is 40 percent funded by Europe.
Clément Beaune, State Secretary for Europe
If all goes well, said Castex, France could return to pre-crisis economic levels in 2022.
The logo of the French reconstruction plan "France Relance", before which he spoke, shows a French and a European flag in a green circle with green letters.
40 of the total of 100 billion euros is money that comes from the EU budget.
"That means that 40 percent of each project is financed by Europe," emphasized the State Secretary for Europe, Clément Beaune.
That gives European cohesion a new, historical dimension.
At the same time, Beaune announced that these debts would be repaid at the European level from 2027 at the earliest and then over several decades.
The opposition reacted largely benevolently to the government's plan, even if the Greens warned that this could only be a first step on the way to serious climate policy.
The chairman of the left-wing trade union CGT, Philippe Martinez, criticized the fact that the heroes from the first front, who had been so praised during the lockdown, i.e. cashiers, nurses and cleaning staff, had not been considered in this plan.
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