‘A call for a revolutionary change for a new economic policy.’ In a speech to the Economic and Defence Commission of the Association of Alumni of the Institute for Higher National Defence Studies in December 2007, Laurence Parisot, the head of France’s leading employers’ federation, described the current situation affecting French businesses, in particular the handicaps that make them less competitive. She proposes a real revolution of our economic policy that puts the priority on the supply side rather than on demand.
A supply Side Economic Policy
The presidency of MEDEF(1) is an extraordinarily privileged position from which to get to know our businesses, to understand their potential and to measure their difficulties. It is very difficult to summarise the issue of their competitiveness in an easily understandable way. We have handicaps in competitiveness and in attractiveness; some figures may help to demonstrate their scale.
Compulsory Taxes
This first very simple set of figures gives an overview of the current state of affairs. The overall tax burden on companies is as follows:
• €280 billion for French companies;
• €210 billion for German companies (in an economy which is 30 per cent bigger than that of France);
• €120 billion for British companies.
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