2020, a great vintage for mediation.
Asked about Classic Radio on Wednesday, the business mediator, Pierre Pelouzet, explained that he had received, last year, thanks to the crisis, a "
tsunami of solicitations
": the number of referrals was thus multiplied by ten between on March 1 and March 15 and it remained at a "
very high
"
level
until the end of the year, surging during the second lockdown after a drop during the summer.
Read also: Unpaid rents, a new source of litigation
In particular, the issue of rents has been a problem for many small businesses, whether they are shops, sports halls, hotels or nightclubs.
Faced with the diversity of situations, on the side of groups as well as donors, "
we need dialogue
", pleaded the mediator.
Commercial leases also emerged as a "
completely new subject
" last year, and breaches of contracts also gained momentum, particularly "
at the onset of the crisis
".
The central point, however, remains the late payments.
Small businesses are the first victims: between thirty and forty businesses disappear every day because of delays, and "
this figure can only increase
" in the current degraded economic context, worries the mediator.
However, companies will need cash to get back on the saddle, once the crisis has passed: “
the recovery requires cash to rehire people, buy raw materials and relaunch activity.
If you don't have cash, it accelerates business failure
, ”the expert stressed.
This subject, already central in normal times, will therefore become "
a key to recovery, to recovery
", according to Pierre Pelouzet.
The representative was optimistic for the months to come: returning to the "
zombie companies
", which hold on thanks to public aid, he repeated that "
the worst is never certain
": these groups will be able to rebound in the future .
"
If the late payment decreases, if suddenly everyone is united, we can save a large part of these companies,
" he wanted to believe.
The "
economic solidarity
" shown by the State could, in this, save companies which "
were less well
" before the crisis, noted the mediator.
In his annual report, published Tuesday, Pierre Pelouzet explains that, with his teams, he dealt with more than 9,600 requests and requests for mediation, against 2,000 in 2019. More than three quarters of requests are required by SMEs with less than 25 employees, "
who suffer the most from late payments,
”he said.
Since January, activity has remained "
sustained
" but it has "
returned to a normal-degraded level
", far from the exceptional level reached at the time of the first confinement.
