On the tails side, SMEs and in particular the 33,000 bakers in France will be able to "request the postponement of the payment of their taxes and social security contributions" to relieve their cash flow, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced on Franceinfo radio.

The head of government also wants small traders, some of whom have been faced with an explosion in their energy bills since the start of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine in February, to be able to spread their payment over several months.

On the face side, the government has very clearly raised its tone towards the energy suppliers, summoned at 2:30 p.m. to the Ministry of the Economy.

"Today, suppliers do not help bakers and SMEs enough. I ask them to do more, better, and immediately", insisted the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire after a meeting in Bercy with representatives of the bakery sector.

If the energy companies do not fall into line, "we can always take more from energy suppliers than what we are doing today", threatened Bruno Le Maire after months of fiery debates around the taxation of "superprofits ".

In the budget for 2023, the government has put in place a mechanism which should allow it to collect part of the "annuity" of energy companies and bring it back, according to its estimates, 11 billion euros.

"Accompany everyone"

The government notably criticizes the energy companies for putting the knife to the throats of small entrepreneurs, forced to accept offers within very tight deadlines.

Some electricity supply contracts offered to SMEs would also lack readability, according to the executive, who will send a "personalized" letter to bakers in France in the coming days to encourage them to take advantage of already existing aid such as the shock absorber or the electricity counter.

"Today, we have barely fifty SMEs a day who come to seek aid to which they are entitled on this counter", yet simplified on many occasions since its creation, regretted Bruno Le Maire.

Hence the government's idea of ​​setting up a "reception point" in each prefecture, "where companies and in particular bakers in difficulty can go", indicated Elisabeth Borne.

"Our goal is to support everyone according to their situation, and the situations are very different," said the Prime Minister.

"There are very important aids that have been put in place", greeted Dominique Anract, the president of the National Confederation of French Bakery-Pastry, at the end of the meeting in Bercy.

"Now, for an (energy) bill that will be multiplied by ten or twelve, nothing will be enough," he qualified.

"The bulk of the electricity problems are happening now," he worried again, also calling for help from the energy companies.

If they offer contracts with abusive clauses, "they will send one or two invoices and after that will be over, the baker will close", assures Dominique Anract.

Despite the announcement on Tuesday of these support measures for SMEs, Bruno Le Maire once again closed the door to "endless aid".

"These are targeted aids for the companies most in difficulty", he hammered, while the government is sometimes criticized for extending indefinitely the "whatever it takes" decided by Emmanuel Macron during the coronavirus pandemic. Covid-19.

© 2023 AFP