Does the state really have the means to prevent the closure of Bridgestone?

In front of the Bridgestone plant in Béthune, Wednesday.

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• Wednesday's announcement of the closure of the Bridgestone Béthune tire plant could doom nearly 900 jobs.

• The state, the elected officials, have stepped up to condemn this decision but their means to avoid the closure are almost nil.

• There is still room for negotiation, with the possibility of finding a buyer.

"Treason", "revolting" ... We took out the swear words, on the side of the government and elected officials, to express all their anger against the announcement of the closure of the Bridgestone site in Béthune (Pas-de-Calais).

The tire factory, which employs 863 people, is heading straight towards the fate of other establishments of the same type: Continental, in the Oise, in 2010, and Goodyear Amiens-Nord, in 2014. In these cases also, elected officials, local and national, had challenged these closures ... without preventing them.

Are there really ways of intervening in this kind of case for the representatives of the State?

Not really, to be honest.

"It is not possible", explains candidly to 

Nadine Levratto, economist and research director at the CNRS.

“The strategy of the company depends only on itself.

Even profitable, it has the right to do so, ”she says.

Several court rulings have been rendered in this regard.

The famous administrative dismissal authorization no longer exists for thirty-four years.

From there, the State and local authorities can only limit themselves to trying to mitigate the shock: “It is a matter of negotiating and trying to convince the company.

"

"The toolbox is not huge"

Still, there are a few solutions.

"The toolbox is not huge, but it has nevertheless been strengthened a little this year", judge Xavier Timbeau, principal director of the French Observatory of Economic Conditions (OFCE), interviewed by

.

Since 2019, corporate social responsibility can be invoked in court.

However, it is the courts which must validate what is called a “job protection plan” (PSE).

"We can also imagine that to deal with a drop in activity, in an emergency, the company has recourse to partial activity", also says Xavier Timbeau who nevertheless recalls that this type of measure cannot be imposed. by the state.

“It will still be argued before the judge who will have to validate or not the PSE.

The State, possibly local communities, will therefore be able to exert pressure.

“But faced with this, the company has recourse.

Before the judge, she can always take advantage of the imperative nature of the need to close the site.

"

One endless day

The State can also try to find a buyer, even if the takeover of the Whirlpool plant, in the Somme, in 2017, did not meet the expected success.

There is also the possibility of setting up a revitalization plan (the company and the communities are baking in an attempt to reindustrialize the site).

In other words, we are not overwhelmed by solutions.

“This morning, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Secretary of State for Industry, said that the state was going to make noise to destroy Bridgestone's reputation.

Well, when it comes to this type of statement, it's because your room for maneuver is limited, ”says Nadine Levratto.

In the end we find ourselves in a "rather derogatory" situation, judges the economist.

“Despite the experience of other cases like this, nothing was imposed on Bridgestone when the company received aid.

»Would it have been possible to do something before this announcement?

Yes, according to the unions which are bringing back to the fore the issue of conditionality of aid to companies.

A subject in vogue, while the recovery plan presented two weeks ago does not require compensation for aid to companies in difficulty.

Disarmament

However, asking for compensation for aid could pose a problem of equality before the law, between companies in different situations.

However, Nadine Levratto believes that this already exists and could well be extended: “When a young start-up seeks assistance for innovation, it must prove that it offers an innovative product.

Why couldn't what we do for young companies be applied to questions of industrial investment?

"

For the research director at CNRS, the mistake, in the case of the Pas-de-Calais plant, is not to have imposed investments against regional aid.

“As a result,” says Nadine Levratto, “we have invested in the Polish sites rather than in France and the Béthune plant still finds itself producing tires that are no longer sold.

"The solution would therefore be to put in place an industrial policy, but which is only possible" if we rebuild control of companies (a bit like the labor inspectorate concerning labor law) ".

Faced with industrialists, the State is not only lacking in money, to possibly invest, but also in the field ...

Lille

Bridgestone plant closure jeopardizes 863 jobs in Béthune

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