Conceived as a response to the French industrial decline revealed by the crisis due to Covid-19, France 2030 could well become an instrument in the trade war which is emerging against the backdrop of the energy crisis. A year after having presented with great fanfare to the Elysée this plan to 34 billion euros, intended to bring out “the industrial champions of tomorrow” to ensure the country’s strategic independence, the executive is trying to give it a more defensive tone, in a very uncertain environment. And wants “accelerate”as the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, was to announce on Friday November 18, during a trip to the laboratory of Alain Aspect, Nobel Prize in Physics 2022, at the Institute of Optics of the University of Paris – Saclay.
In the government’s speech, the plan is now intended to respond, at least in part, to the American protectionist measures contained in Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which also seeks to attract foreign companies wishing to reduce their energy bills and provides for a vast program of investment in infrastructure, with an envelope of 370 billion dollars (357 billion euros). “The United States has exploded all the executives with their plan, and the massive nature of the aid could cause us to lose 10 billion euros of investment in France and 10,000 potential job creations.explains Elisabeth Borne in an interview with Echos, Thursday. We cannot accept this situation. » Also in Asia, “China, but also Japan and South Korea are accelerating very strongly”we underline at Matignon.
Added to these challenges is a new risk, that of rising interest rates, which increases the cost of financing for States and dries up liquidity on the markets that can be invested in innovative companies or projects. “We are rapidly emerging from the era of free money and overabundance of liquidity”, confirms the executive, repeating the words spoken on August 24 by the Head of State. A paradigm shift that could threaten the fragile ecosystem of innovative technology companies, particularly in the industrial field. “Without action, we risk losing a generation of tech companies unable to refinance themselves”poursuit-on.
“Growth Shock”
In this context, Matignon intends to mobilize the tool that is France 2030 by accelerating the deployment of funds. At the end of September, 8.5 billion euros had been committed, the objective being to increase this sum to 10 billion by the end of 2022, then to 20 billion by the end of 2023, i.e. nearly two thirds of the total envelope of investments announced for 2030, “beyond what observers expected”according to Matignon. “Every euro of public money” spent is supplemented by “three or even four times more” private co-financing, we add.
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