Private companies have been the main beneficiaries of France’s post-Covid recovery plan, receiving up to two-thirds of the nearly 73 billion euros in funds already spent, according to a report published Tuesday by the Multinational Observatory.
The association, which regularly investigates the dividends paid by CAC 40 groups or the influence strategies of multinationals, recalls that originally, the 100 billion of the France Relance plan was to be spent on the ecological transition (30 billion euros), business competitiveness (34 billion) and social cohesion (36 billion).
Almost four years after the presentation of the plan, the Multinational Observatory ensures that at least 29.5 billion euros have directly benefited companies.
Among these direct aids, the 20 billion euros reduction in production taxes occupies a preponderant place.
to these direct support measures, we must add 17.7 billion in employment aid, such as subsidies for the hiring of young people and apprentices, continues the association. And undoubtedly also aid for the renovation or purchase of electric cars, which has certainly benefited first and foremost consumers but also suppliers of the products and services concerned.
With this broad-based calculation, the proportion of recovery spending which exclusively or largely benefited businesses now exceeds two-thirds of the sums disbursed, concludes the Observatory.
Public organizations (State, local authorities, SNCF, etc.) have captured 19% of the amounts already spent, while 11% of the funds disbursed are declared unclassifiable by the association.
For the researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) Nadine Levratto, cited by the Observatory, the recovery plan is part of the classic scheme of transformation of society via the productive fabric and individual aid to businesses, to the detriment of investment in public services.
However, when we look at the determinants of business growth and location, the quality of public services plays a big role, she adds.
Like the France Relance evaluation committee, which itself judged the exercise to be particularly complex in January, the Multinational Observatory deplores the difficulty in identifying the final beneficiaries of the plan.
Where the evaluation committee estimated in its final report that 21 billion euros had been spent on the ecological transition, we were only able to allocate 15.24 billion euros spent on this aspect of the recovery plan, argues the ‘Observatory.