the merger failed between Alstom and Siemens in the times failed to Ascoval or the Ford factory in Blanquefort, disappointments industrial pile up to the government, whose economic determination seems to collide with the cruel realities of the market. “The role of the State is to be an actor, not an observer, the role of the State is to guarantee the strategic interests of the industry of the French nation,” said Economy minister Bruno Le Maire, in the fall of 2017, in a speech to the allure of road map industrial.
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This interventionist policies was demonstrated several times over the last few months: wedding project with Siemens for the group rail, Alstom, looking for a buyer for the plant Ascoval of Saint-Saulve (Nord) and for the site Ford-Blanquefort (Gironde). “The State has invested a lot” in the records industry, but “fairly faithful to the ‘same time’ as advocated by Emmanuel Macron: to help the traditional industry while supporting the growth of start-ups,” stresses Elias Cohen, a researcher at the CNRS, with the AFP. The government has multiplied attacks – alongside the trade unions, bosses and investors – but has experienced failures in several files:
Why was the site of Ford Blanquefort will he close ? – Look on Figaro Live
• The folder Ford
in order To convince the automotive group american Ford to give up his factory in Blanquefort (Gironde), the minister of the Economy Bruno The Mayor had used the great means: he had called his american counterpart Steven Mnuchin and then had threatened to nationalise temporarily the site in order to sell it to the sole candidate for the reversal (Punch Powerglide). In vain. Thursday, the car manufacturer, insensitive to the pressures of the executive, has rejected a new offer tabled by the group of Punch, sealing it almost permanently the fate of the factory of the gironde department and of its 850 employees.
“The State seems to be badly in need of imagination or without a genuine willingness to confront the multinational Ford, or without real means,” late Friday in a statement that the CGT Blanquefort, for which the closure of the site would be a “disaster for the region”.
• The folder Ascoval
on The side of Ascoval, the prospects are not much brighter: Altifort, buyer for the mill since the 1st of February, has admitted on Thursday they did not have the funding promised to revive the site, arousing the spite of the 281 employees, and the wrath of Bercy. For Bercy, the group has “deceived all the world”. “Altifort has confirmed to us that he could not pay any of the funds on which it was committed, nor the ten million of its own funds, or the $ 25 million fund-raising,” said a source in the cabinet of the minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire.
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• The merger of Siemens-Alstom
Another failure for the government: the veto put by Brussels, in early February, the proposed merger of Siemens-Alstom. This project has been deemed non-compliant to the rules of european competition and contrary to the interests of consumers. In the aftermath, the prime minister Edouard Philippe was blasted a “bad decision” made “on bad foundations”. “It is necessary to rebuild the competition law as it is implemented in the EU (…) keep in mind that the Commission has not wanted to ask the question of the world market in integrating Asia and China. It is extravagant. It is a conception of the law is extremely dated,” he lamented.
Why Brussels has rejected the merger between Alstom and Siemens – to Watch on Figaro Live
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The government is caught up by reality?
For the executive, which has made the maintenance of industrial activity is a priority objective, this series of setback is a real blow hard. Eric Chaney, of the Institut Montaigne, estimated to AFP that “the government has been overtaken by the reality principle.” “Nationalize a business that is not profitable is not used for nothing: the jobs will not be saved”, writes this economist is liberal, that does not, however, overwhelm Bercy. “Bruno The Mayor is in a political logic than an economic one. It is, moreover, quite understandable, because we are in circumstances that are not ordinary, with the movement of the yellow vests and the european elections which are coming”, he observes.
this is A view shared by Elijah Cohen. “The de-industrialisation causes havoc at the local level, everyone knows it. So, get involved on this subject is legitimate,” says the researcher, who believes – on the folder Blanquefort -that “Ford has been particularly uncooperative”. “You can blame a lot of things in government, but not the one to be hired”, says the researcher. This is certainly not to the State to become a steel manufacturer or become a manufacturer, but it is in his role when it comes to search for a buyer,” concludes the economist.
