It must be that we came to raise our prices

From the aeronautical subcontractors, to which the Government promised recently 130 million euros, the die of automotive OEMs is a little more pampered by the Prime Minister: it should receive a total EUR 400 million over the next three years, to pass a cap also very difficult, according to the measures presented yesterday by Dominique de Villepin. "The automotive industry is essential for our entire economy." "It employs more than one million people in France, and live all our territories," justified the Matignon host, who was invited in a Valeo sites in the Paris region.

However, the aid will be sprinkled according to very varying degrees in the different right holders, and do not know if certain promises will stand up to the next elections. The first payment. For a small business, "a shift in cash, is a more fragile financial situation, it is therefore less investment and term less hiring", summarizes Dominique de Villepin.

Because they could not decide immediately on this subject which unify the builders to their suppliers, the Prime Minister wants to change the French practice, that that regulation of suppliers takes between 90 and 120 days, and align with the average European, where cheques are signed within 30 to 60 days. Clearly, the 60-day limit "become an undue delay", says Jacques Monnet, Delegate General of the Federation of automotive suppliers (Fiev), instead heard on this subject. Which gives rise to round tables in the profession for several months.

The Prime Minister wants to move up a gear, and ordered the two parties to negotiate an agreement here to January 15. "Fault what I propose, then pass by the Statute", warned yesterday. In this hypothesis, since a few months work by the UMP MP Martial Saddier serve basic to a Bill... which may nevertheless be lost in the complex parliamentary calendar for the presidential front.

The large, less concerned

In terms of training, the Government will spend EUR 150 million over three years to a plan of management of jobs and skills, to help companies adapt to change and to encourage mobility. Some 20,000 employees of the automobile will be thus "accompanied", a figure seems modest from 485.000 persons employed in the sector car (production and engineering). In gestation since long months, this plan will be financed "by collecting agencies, State, Europe, and companies", said the Minister of labour Gérard Larcher.

Another coup de pouce, one given to research. Via the industrial innovation Agency, the State will allocate the same amount that in 2006, is EUR 120 million auto. After the project of PSA car hybrid-Diesel this year, the next recipient should be Valeo, who wants to develop a system of second generation of standby engine at a red light ("stop and start"), to reduce its pollution. But for the time being, the first generation of the method proposed by Citroën is hardly popular.

Finally, the research tax credit will be its maximum amount increased, but for all industrial sectors, to EUR 16 million per company instead of 10 million. Either a new expense of 120 million euros for the State. A group like Renault can reach several times that amount in respect of its subsidiaries.

While small subcontractors so-called tier 2 and 3 are the first affected by the Government's plan, large in the sector such as Valeo, highly internationalized, seem less concerned. "The real problem of the sector is not treated, commented yesterday on his CEO Thierry Morin: is an upstream world (raw materials) very inflationary and deflationary downstream world.". It must be that we came to raise our prices. But in this business, there is not solidarity.