The Head of State announced on Tuesday a "mechanism for the relocation of certain health products". - GONZALO FUENTES / POOL / AFP

Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday next measures to relocate factories in the health sector to France, alongside the boss of the Sanofi group who will create two French vaccine research and production sites.

At the end of a visit to the Sanofi site in Marcy-l'Étoile (Rhône), the President of the Republic also promised to set up by the summer of a "planning mechanism" for the French production in the health sector, as well as an envelope of 200 million euros to finance production infrastructure. "As of Thursday, we will launch a mechanism for the relocation of certain products," he declared to group leaders and elected officials, hoping for example that we could once again produce paracetamol in France.

Identify "our weaknesses and our dependencies"

The "planning mechanism" should make it possible to identify "our weaknesses and our dependencies" and then correct them by "trying to repatriate production forces".

Speaking just before him, Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson announced a total investment of 610 million euros to create a new vaccine production site in France as well as a research and development center (R & D).

The group will thus invest nearly half a billion euros in a new factory in Neuville-sur-Saône in the Lyon region, to create a factory for the production of "progressive" and innovative vaccines.

"This investment is for me an extremely strong act which shows the importance of this independence that France must recover in the industrial and health fields", launched Emmanuel Macron, in a new plea for economic sovereignty.

"Health, invest in our sovereignty"

Behind his desk, a large sign bore the inscription "Health, investing in our sovereignty". "The crisis has shown that we must continue to produce in our country and on our continent, we must not depend" on others, he argued, also stressing the importance of European cooperation.

The new Sanofi factory, with 200 jobs created, will be "exceptional, a world first that will allow us to rapidly produce, digitally, all the vaccines we will need in the future," he added. "This is proof of what I was explaining", he said in allusion to his speech on Sunday, "the future of France is not a country where we would work less, where we would produce less "

"At a time when some would like to oppose these causes, we do not win any health battle without winning the industrial battle, we do not win any economic battle if we do not believe in the industry!" "Concluded the head of state, whose call to" work and produce more "has been widely criticized by the left and environmentalists.

  • Pharmaceutical industry
  • Relocation
  • Emmanuel Macron
  • Health
  • Industry