In a “green industry” text presented on Tuesday the French government laid out its plans to support the reindustrialisation of France by favouring environment-friendly companies and the development of five selected sectors.
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In the wake of the “Choose France” summit, which sought to highlight the attractiveness of France for foreign direct investment (FDI), the government is betting mainly on the creation of a “green industry” tax credit.
Its cost estimated at around €500 million is covered by several savings, including the marginal reduction of certain tax niches that currently favour fossil fuels.
The rate of the credit will range from 20% to 45% of the amount invested and will be decided on a project-by-project basis. In return, the government estimates that this will generate €20 billion of investment and create 40,000 new jobs by 2030.
Public procurement will also be mobilised to support the consumption of greener products. In order to guarantee better access to public contracts, certain subsidies will therefore be directed towards companies with a “Triple E” ecolabel (European Environmental Excellence).
Similarly, criteria taking into account companies’ environmental footprint will be introduced for the payment of the “ecological bonus” to consumers, which should encourage the purchase of vehicles produced in Europe, rather than in China or the USA.
This is an objective assumed by Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, who explained to the press on Tuesday morning that France did not intend to use public funds to support the development of factories in Asia.
Besides subsidies from the Public Investment Bank (BPI France), the government also wants to support the green transition and decarbonisation of existing companies, by imposing carbon footprint criteria.
Moreover, the government has announced implementing a “climate savings plan”. Created to direct private savings towards investments in the green industry, it will be similar to standard saving accounts (Livret A) but aimed at minors.
The funds will be blocked until the minor comes of age and the remuneration will be higher than that of the Livret A (3% today), exempt from taxation and contributions. “No other financial product has such favourable tax conditions,” the executive said. This savings plan should allow to raise up to €5 billion, Le Maire said.
Aware of the need for industrialists to find land to develop their activities, the executive announced that 50 existing sites will be cleaned up by 2027, equivalent to about 2,000 hectares, at a cost of €1 billion.
In addition, the government wants to halve the administrative time required to open a new facility, from 18 to 9 months, following Germany’s example. This will not involve cutting the number of existing procedures, but rather ensuring that they are carried out ‘in parallel’ and no longer ‘successively’.
Similarly, the question of human resources is a major issue since the government intends to accelerate the reindustrialisation of the country. The bill thus aims to train more professionals, especially engineers.
In particular, the number of places in the Mines-Telecom schools, dependent on the Economy Ministry, will be increased by 22% by 2027. The government insists that this must go hand in hand with targets for increasing the number of women in the workforce. The rate of women to be reached in these schools is now set at 28% by 2030, compared with the current 20%.
The bill will be examined from 19 June by the Senate, then by the National Assembly. ■
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