The former minister underlines the extent of the economic imbalance by asserting that there are eight times more subsidies to industry in China than in OECD countries. He adds that when for equal quality, you have a 30 to 40% cost gap with Chinese production, we cannot fight simply with normal market rules.
The sudden Starlink restrictions that occurred in Ukraine in October are a particularly painful reminder of this. All those who play with this today are very concretely endangering the price of energy, the price of fuel, but also the fundamental security of France and the French.
In order to reduce this gap, Clément Beaune insists that the first thing to do is to have a serious budget. He adds that it is not certain that we will improve the situation of the host countries by doing this, while recalling that France has never supported these return hubs.
The war in Ukraine has also highlighted another issue, that of Europe's strategic dependence on the United States. Clément Beaune believes that the Americans must be aligned as much as possible with European interests, transatlantic interests and support for Ukraine.
Apart from foreign policy, domestic affairs are not left out at the moment in Europe. In France, Italy, Belgium and even Spain, large-scale social movements, often led by young people, are shaking the continent.
He directly warns of the urgency of the situation, declaring that it poses a question of life and death for European industry. Furthermore, the spread, that is to say the difference between the ten-year borrowing rates of Germany and France, reached the record figure of 5%.
Faced with this situation, the European Union recently concluded an agreement with Beijing, capping imports of hybrid vehicles at 350,000 per year. For Clément Beaune, it is imperative to combine protective measures and a renewed effort on innovation, in all sectors.
Clément Beaune discusses the role of the European Union in supporting Ukraine, Chinese economic competition as well as the social movements shaking the continent. In Germany, Europe's leading industrial power, today 15,000 industrial jobs are destroyed each month.