The aid system for companies in difficulty in the face of the explosion in energy prices will again be simplified “to save the French industrial fabric”, declared Friday the Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire. “We have set up aid schemes which can go up to two million euros, sometimes more, but I can see that they are too complicated. So we are going to simplify them, ”said the minister after visiting the site of an industrial SME in Chartres (Eure-et-Loir). “There is a strategic issue today which is to save the French industrial fabric in the face of soaring energy prices”, he added, hammering that French industry was “threatened and weakened”.
An envelope of three billion euros is dedicated to companies for which energy represents more than 3% of their turnover and which have “no possibility of passing on (on their price) because they have international competitors who are less threatened by soaring prices.
A simplification “before the end of October”
The reference year currently used as a criterion for obtaining aid is 2021 “but as in 2022 it exploded, it is not a good reference”, acknowledged Bruno Le Maire, referring to a simplification of the device “before the end of the month of October”. The Minister urged companies to register on the site of the Directorate General of Public Finance to receive “the aid they need to save the French industrial fabric”.
The device, described as a “gas factory” by the president of Medef, Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, had already been simplified in the face of the low use of the envelope, in particular on the criterion linked to the drop in the gross surplus of operation to determine eligibility. The government is negotiating in parallel with the European Union to obtain “by the end of October a decoupling of the price of gas and electricity”, recalled Bruno Le Maire.
Earlier this week, the main gas and electricity suppliers also signed a charter of good practice, mainly for SMEs, promising to warn customers two months before the expiry of their contract and to offer them at least an offer. For its part, the State will facilitate the signing of contracts by providing its guarantee to companies and will recruit a “negotiator” to help them sign.