Bruno Le Maire redesigned Bruno Le Maire. If the form of the wishes to the press from the Minister of the Economy and Finance, Friday, January 7, was special, surging Omicron obliges – “Welcome to the Supreme Soviet”, he mocked in the preamble in front of journalists spaced and masked around huge tables in the conference center de Bercy -, the content of his remarks was more reminiscent of the beginning of the quinquennium. This was the time when the one who was then one of the only “politicians” of the government allowed himself personalized outings, sometimes to the point of irritating the Elysée with his freedom of speech.
Friday, three months before the presidential election, it is to a speech in the form of a program for a second five-year term that the man who is proud of having “held” the whole of a term at Bercy. And his project is clear: new tax cuts for companies, cuts in charges on high wages and reforms.
“Industrial reconquest is my economic and political obsession, hammered Mr. Le Maire, deploring the « capitulation » successive governments for thirty years, in terms of manufacturing output. According to him, it must be one of the two “Absolute priorities” the next few years, together with the “Restoration of public finances”. “We cannot keep a trade balance in deficit, because (…) it is a reflection of the weakness of our domestic economy ”, he assured, while Customs reported, Friday morning, a record plunge in the trade deficit, to 9 billion euros for the month of November 2021, weighed down by the high cost of imports of raw materials and energy.
“The only solution is industrial reconquest”
According to the minister, “The only solution is the industrial reconquest of a country which has gone from 22% of [part de l’industrie dans] son PNB [produit national brut] at a little less than 10%, and which should come back to around 20% “. For that it is necessary “Continue to improve competitiveness, continue to lower production taxes [déjà réduits de 10 milliards d’euros dans le plan de relance], we have to wonder regarding the C3S [contribution sociale de solidarité des sociétés, un impôt sur le chiffre d’affaires des entreprises qui rapporte près de 4 milliards d’euros par an] and on the reduction of charges above 2.5 minimum wage ”. Assuming the line that has been that of the government for five years, he clarified that ” it is the offer, and only the offer, that will make it possible to succeed in industrial reconquest ”.
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