Candidates at the bedside of industrial sites
No wonder that the backup industry has become an issue in the presidential Since 2001, the manufacturing sector has lost over 800,000 jobs in France. Each week brings a lot of sites in need. After the textile factory Lejaby and module manufacturer Photowatt, it is the turn of the steel plant of ArcelorMittal Florange in Lorraine, put to sleep by the judgment of its two blast furnaces, to generate the anxiety … and the attention of politicians.
Francois Hollande visited Florange Friday. There promised legislation that would prevent a company wanting to emerge from a French site to block a takeover by a buyer. Filed Monday in Parliament, this bill has no chance of being passed before the elections. But its content must be dated. In detail, the text is not so coercive as that. "If there is no buyer, we will force the company not wanting to close the plant to find one," said Alain Rousset, President of PS Aquitaine and responsible for industrial matters within the Holland team.
Defensive tool
"By cons, if buyers are presented, the company can no longer refuse to cede the factory, as sometimes happens now. This is the commercial court which will then choose the buyer, "added the official, who sees the device as a defensive tool against abusive practices by companies not wanting to deliver profitable customers or technology to a potential buyer competing .
On the other side of the political spectrum, we do not share this vision. "The logic of this bill is a logical administered economy that always leads to impoverishment," Francois Fillon on Monday denounced the Salon de l'Agriculture. RTL, Nicolas Sarkozy said he preferred to act through the Strategic Investment Fund (ISF), the armed wing of the State acquires a stake in companies. "It makes sense, is to invest," said the president-nominee. Nevertheless, in the case of ArcelorMittal, the use ISP has nothing obvious, the group being held to 40.8% by the Mittal family. Similarly, the government can push, as reaffirmed by Nicolas Sarkozy, the direction to invest in the blast furnace restarts in the second half. But this is ArcelorMittal, as a private company, which will decide whether to invest, based on economic criteria.
The state could in fact intervene through Ulcos European project, focused on CO2 reductions. Through this project, a new blast furnace could be built to high performance Florange. Last autumn, the French government is committed to provide 150 million euros to this program. Commitment that Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed on RTL. Still, it must also get the green light from Brussels. The European Commission must give its opinion in October 2012. Francois Hollande had gone to discuss the subject in Brussels last November. Nicolas Sarkozy has promised to speak at the European summit later this week. But again, the project will not succeed if it is not economically viable
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