Reindustrialisation: Emmanuel Macron wants to “compete” with the United States

Emmanuel Macron does not budge. On the policy of “competitiveness” initiated in 2017, “what works best is not to break it, we will hold this line […] to accelerate the reindustrialization” of the country. This is what the Head of State hammered home on Thursday at the Elysee Palace before an audience of industrialists, elected officials and ministers during the presentation of his roadmap for reindustrialization. Before making a trip this Friday on the same subject in Dunkirk then hold the now traditional “Choose France” summit in Versailles on Monday.

This acceleration, Emmanuel Macron has linked it to the technological revolutions in progress, to the “battle for the climate and biodiversity […] that we cannot succeed by importing products that we do not choose”. But he also sees it as a response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) . The response, as part of the green industry bill presented to the Council of Ministers next Tuesday, will have as its key element a future green industry tax credit, supposed to “trigger 20 billion in investments in the territory by 2030”.

15,000 training places

“With France 2030, this component will allow us to compete with the IRA”, he ured. “It’s an economic, political, territorial, geopolitical battle”, insisted Emmanuel Macron, underlining the “key issues” for sovereignty, but also the “cohesion of the country” and the “creation of good jobs to give prospects to the middle cles “.

Among the other measures unveiled, Emmanuel Macron announced the opening of 15,000 training places with the means of the France 2030 plan. They will mobilize the CFAs, engineering schools and universities. “A variation for higher education”, announcements made last week on vocational high schools.

“To speed up on jobs in tension, 700 million will also be committed to changing the training map at all levels of diploma, from vocational high school to master’s and doctorate, through the requalification of employees”, underlined the head of state. The idea being, “at the scale of each territory, to have a map of needs and, next to it, adapted needs”. The model, for Emmanuel Macron, is the Battery Academy in the north of France.

The Head of State also confirmed that the car bonus, granted to buyers of electric cars under 47,000 euros, would now be conditional on the carbon footprint of the vehicles concerned. This is (without saying so) to no longer subsidize vehicles produced in China. A measure which will be taken by decree, for entry into force probably at the beginning of 2024, but of which Emmanuel Macron has not specified the technical details.

This could involve making the bonus conditional on compliance with criteria on the energy mix of the country of production of the vehicle and its battery. One way, if the threshold is well calibrated, to eliminate vehicles produced in China but not in Germany. “It will be up to the manufacturers to demonstrate that they meet the criteria. These will be stalled in the coming weeks, “says one at the Elysée. Industrialists are alarmed, already fearing complex gas plants to be set up in a short time.

Turnkey websites

To accelerate, it is also necessary “to reactivate the dynamics of the territories and to multiply what has worked”, affirmed Emmanuel Macron, for whom the “territorialization” of the policy of reindustrialization of France is “absolutely key”. The “Territories of industries” will therefore be relaunched, he announced. The map of the 149 territories of this program (launched at the end of 2018) will evolve, and 100 million euros will be invested this year, by seeking territories in even more difficulty, he explained. With these initiatives, around 50,000 jobs are being created, mostly outside the Paris region, said the Head of State.

To facilitate the establishment of new industrial sites, it is necessary to tackle the redevelopment of wasteland, also pointed out Emmanuel Macron. Preparing these lands to make them almost “turnkey” sites is one of the key points of the green industry bill. “We need 20 to 30,000 new hectares if we want to mively reindustrialize. We have in our country between 90,000 and 150,000 hectares of brownfields,” he argued.

“France 2030” sites will be identified with local authorities and 1 billion euros will be invested by the Banque des Territoires. While many elected officials are worried about the objective of “zero net artificialisation”, the Head of State ured “that we can do very concrete ‘at the same time’ on this subject: reindustrialisation and non-artificialization”.