PARIS (Reuters) – Industry Minister Marc Ferracci said on Saturday he expected new announcements of factory closures in France “in the coming weeks and months”, which will affect “thousands of jobs “.
“There are a certain number of sectors which are in a worrying situation,” noted Marc Ferracci at the microphone of France Inter, citing chemicals, automobiles and metallurgy.
These difficulties are notably due to “very strong international competition (…), not always very fair because it is highly subsidized in China and the United States”.
The closures of industrial sites will affect thousands of jobs, recognized the minister, assuring that the government was “fighting” to “try to find private buyers” and, if necessary, “to best support employees and the revitalization of sites “.
Marc Ferracci discussed the Michelin issue, which announced on Tuesday the closure by early 2026 of its Cholet (Maine-et-Loire) and Vannes (Morbihan) sites, employing 1,254 employees, due to competition from Asian tires in low cost and rising energy prices in Europe.
Marc Ferracci, booed during a visit to Cholet on Friday, said he had expected this type of reaction “because the employees are upset, angry, and we can understand it, because the way in which was making the announcement to employees was not a dignified manner.”
“They were warned very late, Michelin management did not come to make the announcement to them directly, eye to eye, and that, I think, is regrettable.”
“Our commitment, and it is also that of Michelin, is that no one is left without a solution in this extremely difficult matter,” continued Marc Ferracci, assuring that the government wanted to “create the conditions for the negotiations to be favorable to employees, and in particular that they can find reclassifications in the territory”.
The Minister of Industry also pleaded for an emergency plan to support the automobile industry on a European scale, mentioning several avenues such as an ecological bonus on a continental scale or a common loan in order to finance investments.
(Written by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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