Here’s what a little more difficult relations between business and politics. Auchan and Michelinwho announced two difficult redundancy plans on Tuesday morning, did not wait long to react. to the Prime Minister’s remarks of the same day. In front of the French National Assembly, Michel Barnier took up the cause, asking for “to know what they had done “with the public money we gave them”..

The Prime Minister had been questioned by André Chassaigne, MP for the French Communist Party (PCF), who questioned him in particular about the use of the tax credit for competitiveness and employment (CICE) by the two groups and who accused, as usual, the various governments under Emmanuel Macron of making ” phenomenal gifts “to companies.

” The 83 million annual reduction in charges granted under the CICE between 2013 and 2018 has been used in full for the objectives targeted by this measure.“Auchan retorted, citing the redistribution “of the purchasing power to its employees via the progress bonus and profit-sharing.“Or the restoration of “the company’s competitiveness“and the deployment of “innovative technologies“.

2389 job cuts

Introduced in 2013 under François Hollande to reduce labor costs for companies – which are high in France compared with other European countries – and boost their competitiveness, the CICE was transformed into a permanent reduction in employer contributions in 2019 as promised by Emmanuel Macron during the 2017 presidential election campaign. It has since been regularly criticized on the left of the political spectrum.

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The company with the red bird was also keen to point out that at “in 2023 alone, the company paid 258 million euros in taxes (excluding taxes collected: VAT, taxes on alcohol, TICPE) and 607 million euros in social charges for the employer’s share, thus contributing to public operations.”

In dire straits, the Northern France-based food retailer of the Mulliez galaxy has just announced a shock plan to try to get out of its rut. The group plans to cut 2,389 jobs out of a total workforce of 54,000, or almost 5% of its French workforce, including the closure of ten stores, three of which are hypermarkets.

Michelin invests 1.2 billion euros annually in R&D

Michelin, France’s leading tire manufacturer, reacted in the same way, announcing on the same day that it would have to close two plants in Cholet (Maine-et-Loire) and Vannes (Morbihan), employing 1254 people. Pointing out that it no longer benefited from the CICE, the group announced that it had received 42 million euros in 2023 from the research tax credit (CIR), “the main source of public support.“. And to insist: “this figure should be set against Michelin’s annual R&D investment of 1.2 billion euros.“.

In the midst of a heated debate on the 2025 budget project to Parliament in search of tens of billions of euros in savings, Michelin indicated that the CIR was “very important “. This tax advantage allows “make researchers competitive and consolidate the Group’s global R&D center in Francesaid the Group. More than 3,000 researchers are based at the Ladoux center in Clermont-Ferrand.”