Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy and Finance, is the guest of France Bleu Occitanie on the occasion of the European Space Summit. He is in Toulouse alongside Emmanuel Macron to welcome all the European space ministers. He also returns to the respite file of the SAM foundry supported by the Occitanie Region.
What will this European space summit be used for in concrete terms?
It will serve to affirm European sovereignty in terms of space. Our determination in the 21st century to have our own launchers, our own satellites, our own constellations, our own constellation, that is to say the set of satellites that will make it possible to have 5G more quickly, to have completely independent communications, to have network, including on the mobile objects, on the trains, on the planes, on the trucks, on the cars. So it’s a real spatial ambition that we are going to affirm this morning with the President of the Republic.
Aren’t we too far behind the Americans?
It is true that we start late. It happens often in Europe, but we know how to catch up. Look what happened on Galileo. We had lagged behind GPS and today we have Galileo, a positioning system that is more precise than GPS.
We fell behind on the revolving launcher. I am convinced that, in particular with the Maïa program that we launched a few months ago, we will be able to have our own European reusable launcher. I am also convinced that Ariane 6 will be a success and that this heavy launcher that we have set up will be commercially profitable, attractive for many companies that want to launch satellites and efficient from a technological point of view.
So, I would really like to put an end to this idea that Europe has become a space dwarf while the United States and China are the only great powers. We are one of the great space powers. We have the technologies, we have the know-how. We have the factories here in Toulouse, where, near my constituency, in Vernon, we have the men with people like Thomas Pesquet and we have the ambition. And it is this spatial ambition that we are going to highlight this morning.
Thousands of jobs linked to the need for satellites
Exactly, you are talking about Toulouse. Will there be economic benefits from this new European space strategy?
Satellite needs will be considerable. I was talking earlier about the constellations of satellites in low orbit, a complete constellation that allows you to ensure communications and the network everywhere across the planet: it’s about 10,000 satellites, so I consider that the day where we are launching this project of European constellations, it is thousands of jobs in direct spinoffs for Toulouse. You have both the satellite producers who are going to have orders. I think about a start-up like Loft Orbital, which is based here in Toulouse. They will be able to create new uses for space because there will be new needs in space. So all that means jobs and jobs for the City which specializes in satellites, ie Toulouse.
Thousands of jobs by how long, can you tell us?
I’m more of years than months. Let’s be clear. But it is really the scale of the thousands of jobs for the Occitanie region, for the city of Toulouse which have taken the lead in satellite matters.
Space doesn’t have to be the Wild West
We know that the Russians tried to spy on a French satellite. Space is a new battlefield. Bruno Le Maire has the space?
Space doesn’t have to be the Wild West. First, for debris, it’s too easy to send satellites. Once they are obsolete, they are left in space, at the risk that this debris, then, could damage, for example, the European Space Station. So, it is imperative that there are rules. The means of enforcing these rules, so that we cannot do just anything. To engage in attacks, to engage in threats. Do not leave this debris lying around throughout the space. So the organization of space. The definition of the rules for the use of space will be part of the important discussions we will have today.
No “false hope” on the SAM
Bruno Le Maire, a few words about SAM, the Aveyron foundry liquidated at the end of December. And yesterday, you announced that you were going to financially support an industrial buyer based in Occitania. How much are you going to put on the table?
We are looking at how much we are putting on the table. I will tell you very simply the question is not how much the state puts on the table. The real question is whether the project holds up.
You had judged that the last takeover project did not hold up…
Yes, a project did not hold water. We have a new project. Me, I’ve never deceived employees, so I tell them don’t listen, I have a solution, it’s great, it’s going to work. I have always held a language of truth. I made a commitment that we reindustrialise the Decazeville basin. We will get there. And there, for once, we have industrial projects that are very solid, particularly in the field of battery recycling. There are jobs, there are factories and industrial capacities that can be set up. For SAM, we have an industrialist who has expressed an interest. I am much more careful. This industrialist to launch his project, he tells us “I need studies”. I don’t know how much these studies will cost. We will finance them. But I don’t want to create false hopes because I consider that, especially in these times when the city remains very hard for many French people, when the shock was very hard for the employees, for the workers. I met the sum unions. I don’t want to make false promises. I will do my best to find a buyer who is an industrial recovery. This is the commitment I made. There is a track that is interesting. We finance the studies, but I cannot say that today I have the definitive solution. I think that would have gone too far.
“leave time for studies”
We were talking about a hundred employees who would be taken over. Can’t you guarantee that?
I guarantee that in any case, each employee of the sum will have a solution, either in another company, or in the SAM if the buyer, the project of the buyer, really holds up. But if I had a solution that I knew today, here it is. There is a project, there is a load plan. There is funding. All this will work and in a few months, you will have the solution, I will tell you. You don’t want to, I’m more careful. I will really show the most total determination, as always, on these industrial subjects. But let’s give time to study and in a few months, not before a few months, we will know if this project can really go to the end.
Can you tell us who this potential buyer is?
I can’t give the name because if we want the recovery to go all the way, we have to keep this my secret.
Can you tell us, then, will Renault be associated with this takeover project, for example by giving work to this buyer?
And that presupposes that you study. I don’t anticipate what we will ask for from the studies in terms of workload. Which builders will be associated with? We proceed step by step.
On the other hand, you said on our antenna that Renault had a moral and financial responsibility towards each employee of the Somme. He holds her responsibility for the moment.
For now, they hold them. We had a very, very firm discussion with the leaders of Renault. A few weeks ago, I had this discussion myself, telling them that you made commitments with respect to the thresholds of SAM, where you have been a client of SAM for years. So you have a responsibility. I believe they corrected the shot. That’s great and we make sure they keep their word.