The stake of "made in France" is invited in the presidential campaign.
While the show of the same name opens its doors this Thursday, November 11, Porte de Versailles (Paris), the candidates for the election are expected in number between the stands: Valérie Pécresse announced herself to the organizers on Thursday and Friday, while Marine Le Pen, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan or Jean-Luc Mélenchon are expected on Friday.
Yannick Jadot should be present on Saturday, and polemicist Eric Zemmour on Sunday, the last day of the show.
Arnaud Montebourg, fervent defender of “
made in France
”, will be present as a candidate but also as an exhibitor, with a stand dedicated to his “
Bleu Blanc Ruche
”
honey
.
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In this context, the former Secretary of State in charge of Overseas Territories and former deputy Yves Jégo calls on the contenders for the Élysée Palace to make commitments in favor of French production. Particularly with regard to public procurement. “
I have a proposal to make, which is that the presidential candidates undertake that 25% of public contracts be reserved for French products. This would make 50 billion per year of French purchases,
”he said at the microphone of franceinfo on Thursday.
Yves Jégo takes for example the Buy American Act, an American federal law that came into force in 1933. This text requires all American federal government agencies to turn to products manufactured at least 55% in the United States when ordering public orders. .
US President Joe Biden also wants to go further, so that this proportion increases gradually to reach 60% at first, then 75%.
The aim is to prevent state money from financing products mainly produced abroad.
Principle of non-discrimination
But in France, the legal framework is different. Public procurement is governed by the constitutional rule of non-discrimination and by the principles of freedom of movement of people, capital and services set out in European Union treaties, as recalled by the Ministry of the Economy and Finances in March 2020, requested by the Gazette des communes.
The French public authorities nevertheless have the means to "
facilitate the access of local companies to their markets
", in the words of the ministry, or in other words to give them an advantage in public
procurement
.
This can mean, for example, the inclusion of social or environmental criteria in the order, and not just a price criterion which tends to favor companies where labor is cheaper.
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In a report submitted to the government last October, the senator for Finistère Nadège Havet and the deputy for Haute-Vienne Sophie Beaudouin-Hubière had already formulated 46 proposals in this direction.
The two elected officials propose in particular to get the communities to assess the “
positive externalities of public procurement
”.
On receiving this report, the Minister Delegate in charge of Industry Agnès Pannier-Runacher herself called for seeing public procurement as a "
strategic economic policy tool
", recalling that it represents 8% of GDP, "
or some 200 billion euros
”.