Monitoring Document Coronavirus COVID-19 Crisis FRANCE
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Monitoring document Coronavirus COVID-19 crisis FRANCE INTEREL FRANCE - 26/03/2020 1 Table of Contents I. Economic situation ................................................................................... 3 1. Global ..................................................................................................................... 3 2. By sector ................................................................................................................. 4 II. Sanitary situation ..................................................................................... 5 1. Update on Government announcements - containment measures ...................... 5 2. Sources - documents published by the Government ............................................. 5 III. Business support measures ...................................................................... 6 1. Government strategy (nationalisations, priorities, demands vis-à-vis the EU...) .. 6 2. Cash flow announcements (loans, deferral of charges, implementation of the solidarity fund for companies with less than one million turnovers, etc.) .................... 6 3. Announcements on short time working, working hours, holidays and rest days . 7 4. Renewed "Macron" bonus ..................................................................................... 8 5. Government requests to companies (dividends, redundancies, etc.) ................... 8 6. Support measures at European level ..................................................................... 9 IV. Sectoral measures .................................................................................. 11 1. Support for the entire agri-food chain ................................................................. 11 2. Support for tourism stakeholders ........................................................................ 12 3. Support for start-ups ............................................................................................ 13 4. Support for the building and public works sector (BTP) ...................................... 14 V. Initiatives by major companies to assist the Government in the fight against the Covid-19 Coronavirus .................................................................. 15 1. Textile / Cosmetics ............................................................................................... 15 2. Transport .............................................................................................................. 15 3. Tourism ................................................................................................................ 15 4. Large-scale distribution / Food ............................................................................ 16 5. Others ................................................................................................................... 16 2 I. Economic situation 1. Global 24.03.2020: At a press conference, the Minister of the Economy said that France is facing a violent, global and undoubtedly lasting economic shock, which should translate into a drop in growth (by at least -1% for 2020), also specifying that this estimate should be degraded in the coming weeks. The Minister referred to the crisis and its future impact as "comparable only to the Great Recession of 1929". To face this, the Government has already pledged 45 billion, but this is only a "starting point", as this sum will most likely be exceeded. The Government also warned that after a shock of this magnitude, activity will not return to normal "overnight". The political responsibility is to envisage a "scenario where all sectors will have to recover". The Minister also calls for a coordinated EU response, beyond the triggering of the general flexibility clause (allowing additional expenditure without being called to order under the Stability Pact) and the €750bn asset purchase announced by the ECB. He wants the European Stability Mechanism to be engaged and calls for Europe to "learn the lessons of this crisis, particularly with regard to the organization of its supply chains. " 25.03.2020: The leaders of nine European countries (including Emmanuel Macron and Giuseppe Conte) called for the creation of corona bonds in a letter sent Wednesday to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, in order to mutualize the debts resulting from the crisis. They called for the construction of a "common debt instrument issued by a European institution to raise funds on the market [...] for the benefit of all Member States [...] to cope with the damage caused by the Coronavirus". It was also signed by the Heads of State and Government of Spain, Greece, Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Portugal. 24.03.2020: Christine Lagarde is reported to have asked the finance Ministers of the euro zone to consider the exceptional issue of "corona bonds", at the monthly meeting of the Eurogroup, which was opposed by the countries traditionally supporting budgetary seriousness, with Germany in the lead. On the same day, Bruno Le Maire called on the EU to assess the use of this type of financial tool to deal with the crisis. 26.03.2020: INSEE has published an economic outlook for March. While the surveys for January and February were relatively unaffected by the effects of the Covid-19 crisis, the results collected in March directly reflect the concerns of companies in this context. Indeed, the survey shows a heavy drop in the business climate, which would be the biggest monthly decline of the indicator since 1985. Nevertheless, INSEE recalls that the collection of the March business and consumer surveys started on 26 February 2020 and the processing of the responses was finalized on 23 March 2020. From now on, these business and consumer surveys should be updated every two weeks. 3 • The legislative package of the emergency legislation to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak • Emergency legislation to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak • The legislative dossier of the emergency organic law to deal with the Covid 19 outbreak • Draft emergency organic law to deal with the Covid-19 outbreak (pending the decision of the Constitutional Court) • The legislative dossier of the Amending Finance Act for 2020 • Amending Finance Act for 2020 • Link and explanation (in French) to the 25 Ordinances issued by the Government following the vote of the Emergency Bill 2. By sector 24.03.2020: The Minister for the Economy indicated that, for certain sectors, activity has already come to a complete standstill: tourism, air transport, restaurants, bars, theatres, cinemas, event activity… “All these sectors have a 90 to 100% drop in turnover". But many industrial sectors are also affected: "French industry is running at 25%, some major industrial sectors have turnover down by 80 to 85%". 4 II. Sanitary situation 1. Update on Government announcements - containment measures Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced on March 14th,2020 the closure of all restaurants, discos, museums, shopping centers, theatres and all non-essential public places. The closure of hotels is however excluded for the time being (cf. decree published in the Official Journal of March 15th 2020). The President then spoke on March 16th to announce travel restrictions for all French citizens. These were then tightened on March 25th, with an announcement by Edouard Philippe: • Companies are called upon to generalize teleworking. • The French can only go out under certain conditions and always with an exit certificate. • The borders of the Schengen area have been closed. • Cruise ships are no longer allowed to stop in French ports. 2. Sources - documents published by the Government The various decrees and orders that set up the containment: • Decree of March 14th 2020 • Decree No. 2020-260 of March 16th 2020 • Decree of March 19th 2020 • Decree of March 21st 2020 • Decree No. 2020-293 of March 23rd 2020 • Decree of March 23rd 2020 18.03.2020 : The postponement of the second round of municipal elections, initially scheduled for March 22nd, 2020, was enacted by decree, and supplemented by the emergency law to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic: • It is postponed "at the latest" to June 2020. • Its date will be fixed by subsequent decree. • The closing date for the submission of the candidates’ lists for the second round will be known when the election date is set. • The Government must submit to Parliament before May 23rd 2020 a report from the Scientific Council for Coronavirus Crisis Management, assessing whether meeting this deadline is a possibility. • If the elections cannot take place in June, the results from the first round in March 2020 will be cancelled, and two new rounds will be held. • In the meantime, the term of office of the municipal councilors from the previous period is extended. 5 III. Business support measures 1. Government strategy (nationalisations, priorities, demands vis-à- vis the EU...) 24.03.2020: Bruno Le Maire declares that "the public authorities will use all the instruments at their disposal to protect our industrial heritage": capital increase, recapitalisation, nationalisation. He targets in particular here "companies that are part of our country's cultural capital (...), companies in which we have invested a lot of public money, particularly in the form of research tax credits (...), companies in which hundreds of thousands of employees work". The airline Air France is of particular concern to the Government. The Minister indicated that he already has provisions in place to support the company and that discussions