Paris (AFP)
Emmanuel Macron will make "important announcements" on Tuesday as part of a plan to support the automobile industry plagued by the coronavirus crisis, a source close to the executive told AFP on Saturday.
"This plan has different components: industrial sovereignty, transition to clean vehicles, and also aims to preserve the competitiveness of the sector," said this source.
"It is the president who will bring the sector plan to its level," she added, stressing that there is an "industrial issue, an issue of jobs and transformation of the sector towards transition and conversion to clean vehicles ".
She underlined the "big preparatory work done by the Ministers of Economy and Finance as well as of the Ecological and united Transition", Bruno Le Maire and Elisabeth Borne.
Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said in Le Figaro on Thursday that the head of state would announce "next week a support plan for the automotive sector", after having indicated on Monday that he was the one there would land "within 15 days".
According to Le Parisien, Emmanuel Macron will present a plan that will include the reinstatement of a premium for the purchase of a hybrid vehicle and an increase in that in favor of electric cars and the premium for the conversion of an old diesel.
Bruno Le Maire said that the support plan would be geared towards green technologies. He asked in return for a relocation of productions to France.
The government has also raised the tone during the week vis-à-vis Renault in which it is a shareholder up to 15%. Bruno Le Maire on Thursday submitted the green light for a loan of 5 billion euros to commitments, while the Renault group must unveil on May 29 the outlines of a savings plan of two billion euros.
Edouard Philippe had warned him on Wednesday that the government would be "uncompromising" on the "preservation" of Renault sites in France, at a time when the manufacturer would consider, according to Le Canard enchaîné, to stop four sites in France, including that of Flins (Yvelines) which combines the electric city car Zoe and the Nissan Micra.
The European car market was cut in four in April after falling by half in March compared to last year. The sector in France weighs 400,000 direct industrial jobs and 900,000 in services.
© 2020 AFP