Tense exchange between Macron and Bertrand on the Ascoval file

via Associated Press

ECONOMY – “That’s not the solution!” Xavier Bertrand urged Emmanuel Macron this Friday, November 19 on the future of the steelworks Ascoval, saved from a relocation to Germany but still threatened, according to him, by a lack of competitiveness.

It is by welcoming the Head of State to the Familistère de Guise (Aisne) that the president of the region Hauts-de-France, candidate for the LR nomination for the presidential election, had a somewhat tense dialogue with the Head of State of a few minutes, sometimes cutting him off to call for a more lasting solution.

“The solution adopted is not satisfactory. It is the electricity tariff that is the problem. As long as we have competition from the Germans with coal, they (Ascoval) will not be competitive. We must grant them the preferential rate, it is the only way to get them out of the business sustainably, ”said Xavier Bertand.

“As you know, dear president of the regional council, the Minister (in charge of Industry) spent her day and night there”, retorted the Head of State, inviting him to “talk about it” at Agnès Pannier-Runacher, who announced that the contract between Ascoval and EDF would change on January 1 to “stabilize” the cost of electricity.

“I want to save this factory”

This Friday, the German group Saarstahl, after a meeting in Bercy, gave up transferring part of the production of the Saint-Saulve steel plant (North) to Germany, where the blast furnaces run on coal, much cheaper than the electricity whose prices are soaring. But the government did not specify the guarantees granted.

“I want to save this factory. You too? ”Insisted Xavier Bertrand.

“At my request yesterday they convened the company,” replied Emmanuel Macron. “I tell you that this is not the solution”, interrupted the president of the region, demanding “guarantees” on the electricity tariff granted to the factory which employs 270 employees.

“You may know better than all the others,” said Emmanuel Macron.

“The problem is not to know who is right between us, take into account the point of view of which I am the spokesperson”, retorted his interlocutor.

The Head of State cut it short by concluding: “Thank you for being alongside the other elected officials who work for the territory. With me you have a President of the Republic who fights for industry on the ground ”.

See also on The HuffPost: From the ISS, Thomas Pesquet alerts Emmanuel Macron on the acceleration of climate disasters