Continue to lower production taxes, find land and develop new sectors: Bruno Le Maire, traveling with Edouard Philippe to the Renault factory in Sandouville where the production of a new electric van was announced, rolled out its roadmap to reindustrialize France. “It’s good for the planet to produce in France. A product made in France means half as many greenhouse gas emissions as in the United States and four times less than in China,” underlined the Minister of Economy and Finance, who accompanied the general director of Renault, Luca de Meo for investment announcements.
The Sandouville factory will produce the future FlexEvan by 2026, new generation electric vans which will supply the Flexis joint venture, created by Renault, Volvo and the shipowner CMA CGM on March 22, for last mile delivery. Renault and Volvo are also planning to invest 300 million euros respectively over the next three years in this company which will be based in France. The announcement on Sandouville was accompanied by a promise of 550 hires in four years and 330 million euros of investment for this site where 1,850 people and 600 temporary workers already work.
“We must question the implementation of ZAN”
“E-commerce is exploding and this makes the need to reduce the environmental impact of these vehicles in the city even more essential,” underlined the general director of the French car manufacturer. The development announced in Sandouville is the result of “production tax reductions”, declared Bruno Le Maire. “We will continue to lower production taxes in France,” he stressed while the government is looking for savings to fill the public deficit which reached 5.5% of GDP in 2023, or 15, 8 billion euros more than expected.
For the minister, it is urgent to create “new industrial sectors” in batteries, but also in artificial intelligence, heat pumps and photovoltaics. The batteries for the FlexEvan will also be supplied by Verkor and its Dunkirk factory, which has a partnership with Renault.
Like Édouard Philippe, Bruno Le Maire warned of the need to find land to facilitate the establishment of industries in France. “We must question the implementation of ZAN”, the “Zero net artificialization” law of July 2023, which consists of limiting the extension of land artificialization, said the minister. “There is no factory without land,” added Bruno Le Maire. He also promised the development of 1,500 hectares in the ports of Le Havre, Dunkirk and Marseille to encourage the establishment of factories.
“Have access to abundant energy, if possible inexpensively”
He was accompanied to Sandouville by former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe for whom “today, having usable land to set up a factory is complicated”. “It would be absurd, while there are projects for factories that participate in the ecological transition, if there is no place to install them,” insisted the mayor of Le Havre.
Édouard Philippe also identified two other pitfalls for accelerating reindustrialization: training and the cost of energy. “If we want to reindustrialize the country, we must train women and men in these new professions,” said Édouard Philippe and “this requires an effort to mobilize exceptional human resources.” Another necessity: “to have access to abundant energy, if possible inexpensive”, formulated the former tenant of Matignon, without detailing how to get there.
Still convinced not to increase taxes to make up the French deficit, Bruno Le Maire also encouraged employee shareholding. And “if we are for employee shareholding, we are not for increasing the taxation of dividends,” he said. “I do not want to increase the taxation of employee shareholders”, while this income is subject to a single flat-rate levy capped at 30%, underlined the minister.