France is in the midst of a health crisis whose scope and consequences cannot be defined. To this, we must not add an economic crisis, the consequences of which would be catastrophic on a social level.
Of course, there will be a before and after the Coronavirus, but it is important to maintain continuity of service and economic activity.
Despite the circumstances, President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly insisted: “In these times of crisis, economic activity must continue.”
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, echoed this statement: “The core activities of our economy must keep running.”
The government has presented a 45 billion support plan to Parliament, complemented by the measures taken by the European Commission and the ECB.
In fact, it is about emerging from the health crisis with the ability to get back on the right track.
In the face of these responsibilities, and despite the contingent difficulties on the ground and individualistic tendencies, the presidency of MEDEF (Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, president, and Patrick Martin, vice-president), the employers’ organization, has sounded the alarm by sending a letter to all its members, calling them to their social responsibilities.
We publish some excerpts:
The crisis we are experiencing, firstly health-related but also economic, is unprecedented in scale.
In these exceptional circumstances, we must all show unity, calm, and determination to face the colossal challenges ahead together.
(…) In the fight against this epidemic, the economic world constitutes the “rear forces,” those that must provide healthcare workers with the means to fight and all our citizens with the means to live.
Business leaders, executives of large groups, SMEs, or microenterprises, listed companies, or family businesses, salaried managers or shareholders of our companies, we all have a decisive role in the solidity and resilience of the production tool.
We must ensure the continuity of activity in vital areas, of course, but also in all related fields since our economy is integrated and sectors are interdependent.
We must therefore imperatively continue to produce during this confinement period. Not for strictly economic and financial reasons—though our collective ability to produce determines the state’s ability to continue borrowing in markets, thereby ensuring our banking system and the funding of our entire economy.
But above all to avoid adding a supply shortage crisis for our citizens to the health crisis.
[…] Other comparable countries, heavily affected by COVID-19, have managed to maintain a high level of activity while implementing measures to fight the pandemic. Our country must be able to do as well.
