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Emmanuel Macron set the tone last week: The French government’s reconstruction plan should not be a short-term response to the crisis, not just a recovery plan for the ailing economy, but an investment in the future of the country. With “France Relance”, Macron explained, the goal is to prepare France for 2030. A France that should be more modern, greener, more competitive and more social than it is until now. Much greener and more social than Macron’s electoral manifesto had anticipated in 2017.
The strategy was established: the investments announced today are not only intended to save the country, but to fundamentally change it, in accordance with Macron’s economic policy and the continuation of it, 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,” the president said.
And so its Prime Minister Jean Castex announced today, in the presence of several ministers, 70 different measures and a plan of 100,000 million euros, which exceeds everything that previous governments have proposed as rescue plans. Therefore, the most used words during the hour and a half presentation were probably “historical” and “unique”. This time almost four times more is being invested than in the 2008 financial crisis to absorb the consequences of the corona pandemic and the strict eight-week lockdown in France.
“This plan prepares the future”
Only between April and June, the gross domestic product in France fell 13.8 percent; According to calculations by the Ministry of Economy, 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 the country is in, the prime minister had previously told Figaro in an interview: “You are not satisfied with that, Pflaster. to hold on to the wounds of the crisis. This plan prepares the future. “
Now, 100 billion should save, modernize and make the French economy future-proof. And define three priorities for it:
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the ecological restructuring of the economy,
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increase the competitiveness of French companies
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and social cohesion, and in particular the preservation and creation of employment.
The first point is already remarkable. € 30 billion has been earmarked to make French companies and industry greener. This includes the thermal insulation of public and private buildings, the further development of green technologies and an environmentally friendly transport system. Smaller rail lines and rail freight traffic will expand massively, as will a cycle lane system. The new Minister of the Environment, Barbara Pompili, a former ecologist, spoke of a “giant step for ecology in France”. It is not about reconstruction, but about restructuring the economy.
The second major area in which investments are made is the competitiveness and sovereignty of the French economy. The plan foresees 35,000 million euros for this, 20,000 million of which will be used to exempt various previously mandatory levies, mainly 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 will flow toward the relocation of strategically important sectors, a project President Macron announced at an early stage of the pandemic. Among other things, more drugs and food will be produced in France to make the country independent of foreign imports.
500,000 jobs in the next few years
28 billion are reserved for the third priority: social cohesion. More than six billion will be invested in the so-called “Plan Jeune” for the employment of young French people. “That should be our first priority,” Castex said. 500,000 jobs will be created for young French people in the coming years. Companies employing young workers are offered a bonus of 4,000 euros. Youth unemployment is currently 21 percent, while the overall unemployment rate is just 7.1 percent thanks to state-funded short-term work – eight million workers currently benefit from it. The fight against precariousness continues to be a constant in this government, highlighted Castex. In addition, the prime minister kept his promise to better equip hospitals and nursing homes. Six billion are earmarked for this item.
If all goes well, Castex said, 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 Secretary of State for Europe, Clément Beaune. This gives European cohesion a new historical dimension. At the same time, Beaune announced that these debts would be paid at the European level from 2027 at the earliest and then for several decades thereafter.
The opposition reacted largely benevolently to the government’s plan, even if the Greens warned that this could only be the first step on the road to serious climate policy. The president of the left-wing union CGT, Philippe Martínez, criticized the fact that the heroes of the first front, so praised during the confinement, that is, cashiers, nurses and cleaning personnel, have not been considered in this plan.
