François Asselin is the president of the Confédération des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises, an employers’ organization that represents SME bosses. On Saturday, August 30, the CPME decided to send an open letter to the future Prime Minister, calling on him “to tackle crucial issues for the country.”
franceinfo: Why this initiative? Do you find the time long?
For two reasons. First, we, business leaders, SME or VSE, live in reality. Our reality is to see an environment that is becoming more and more hostile. In July, the figures for business losses are not good. Business failures are not good, over a year, rolling, we exceed 63,000 business failures. This is considerable and we can no longer explain it by the post-Covid period, we have to start repaying our debts. We are on statistics that prove that overall the signals are not very positive. We are returning to business in a country where there is no one in business, so we must indeed get back to work. Since the dissolution, we have lost visibility and stability. In economic matters, there is always “the invisible hand” called trust and without this trust, we do not make decisions. Since the dissolution, business leaders have gone into pause mode, and that’s not good for business at all.
Do you really see a wait-and-see attitude on the part of your members? Are they waiting to see what will happen?
Yes, because when you don’t have a Prime Minister and the programmes put forward by some in the Chamber mean that you risk seeing measures that go against the grain of what we need, of course, that worries us. Here, we say be careful, we do not live in a parallel world.
How does this wait-and-see attitude on the part of business leaders translate?
When you decide to invest, you put yourself in pause mode, you don’t invest. Then, you decide to recruit, you might ask yourself the question three times before taking an action of recruitment. Which means that quite simply, it doesn’t feed growth, it doesn’t feed the economy. And behind, you see your activity gently erode and that, it’s absolutely not good.
“When you are in a country that is facing an abysmal debt and nothing is happening, you end up being worried.”
Francois Asselinto franceinfo
You are also a business leader, have you stopped investing and recruiting?
For now, we are reviewing everything that would be needed to invest, but without taking the act of investing. As for recruitment, well, the first lever for recruitment is activity and if you feel that it is slowing down, you are not going to recruit.
However, activity was good this summer with the Olympic Games, so it is not a question of activity?
Not for everyone, indeed, if you look at the companies that are in line with the Olympic Games, of course, the activity will have been good, but for construction, it is still not good at all. For transport, it is not good at all. For personal services, it is not very good at all either. The start of the school year is still looking a little chaotic and so yes, we absolutely have to look at the future as it is and the future is demanding. If we don’t get to work, it could be catastrophic for the country’s economy.
In your open letter, you write that we need a head of government, “to ensure that our country does not sink into a state of immobility that is synonymous with chaos.” Aren’t you exaggerating a little?
In economic terms, when you ride a bike and you stop pedaling on a hill, well you fall. At the level of a country, it’s exactly the same. That is to say, within two weeks, we will have to present a copy to Brussels on the evolution of the country’s finances. In a month and a half, we will have to place on the markets a little over 100 billion euros of French debt. If we do not give positive signals, if we do not reassure our creditors and if we do not reassure Brussels, I can tell you that the sanction could come from outside and that is not glorious. That is why we are in a situation where we are obviously waiting for things to be taken back in hand.
On Tuesday, September 3, you have an appointment at the Élysée Palace. What will your message be?
I will say exactly what I have just told you, namely that we need prospects for stability in fiscal matters. Above all, let us not start to unravel what has been knitted together this year. Stability is extremely important, we are the most heavily taxed in Europe and what we are asking for is the status quo.
“On production taxes, we would like the promises to be kept and above all, we are also worried, like all French people, about the evolution of the public debt, because if we do not resolve this problem, we all risk being impacted.”
Francois Asselinto franceinfo
An important subject for the French is purchasing power and it is the increase in wages. It is part of the programs, in particular, the New Popular Front which wants to increase the minimum wage to €1,600 net per month. This is not what Emmanuel Macron wants, but he does not abandon the idea of increasing low wages by reviewing the exemptions from contributions. Are you in favor of it?
Reworking the scale of exemptions, why not, we had already started this work with a mission ordered by the Elysée. Concentrating them on low wages, why not. What we need to do, very carefully, is to control our labor costs. Obviously, starting with €1,400 net in France, it is not easy to hold both ends of the string, especially if you live in a big city.
Does this mean that if the contribution exemptions were concentrated on low salaries, it would encourage you, business leaders, to increase salaries?
Already, it allows you to remain competitive. Because generally, when you have these salaries in your company, it is because opposite you, you have a market that does not allow you to increase salaries. The objective is to increase salaries, so let’s actually look at how we can do it on the scale of exemptions, how we can improve things. On the other hand, doing it at the same cost will be extremely complex.
A name that has been circulating insistently for Matignon since this morning is that of the president of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, Thierry Beaudet. Before that, he was at the head of the Mutualité française. Do you know him and is it a good choice?
Yes, I know him well. He is a consensus-based person, and when you are at the head of the Cese, you have to know how to practice consensus. Now, being at the head of a government means constantly moving from consensus to dissent. So it is another mission, another function and another job. In any case, whether it is him or someone else, he will have a considerable task to carry out. He will not be able to free himself from the principle of reality, which we know every day in our businesses.