The 11th Made in France trade fair was held a few weeks ago at Porte de Versailles, bringing together French craftsmen and producers. More than 100,000 visitors attended the show with great enthusiasm. In the same spirit, ARMOR GROUP announced the construction of a new battery components plant in the Nantes region and its acquisition of a 20% stake already invested in Holosolis, whose plant in Moselle will become the largest solar panel production facility in Europe. With a futur total investment of €710m, the project will produce 5 gigawatts a year at full capacity from 2027, equivalent to the energy needs of one million homes and 8% of European imports of photovoltaic modules. The plant will create 1,700 jobs.

The Made in France trade show, like this announcement, is one of a long list of day-to-day economic events and investments, which I am delighted about, because I believe they have a major impact on our sovereignty and our jobs.

Picking up on Arnaud Montebourg's recent comments, "A country that does not produce is in the hands of those who do. It's a loss of freedom". It's also an abandonment of our regions: towns and villages abandoned for lack of factories, work and therefore jobs. In this sense, the France 2030 investment plan launched by the government is a good thing. Of course, the French economy must do more than just produce in France. Our international influence, through our production in India, the United States and China, is just as vital. But we must be careful not to repeat the huge error of judgement made by Alcatel in 2001, which advocated developing companies without factories by producing our industrial components in China! The result: 120 plants - the majority - of the Alcatel group were closed. The consequence of this model today is that our industry represents only 12% of French GDP, compared with 17% in Italy and 21% in Germany.

The other priority is social. Even if we can consider that a job abroad is just as valuable as a job in France, the priority, whenever possible in terms of wage costs, is to invest in the territories entrusted to us, i.e. in France, rather than outside. What's more, the carbon impact of local production is much better than importing our products from far away bases in Asia or the Americas. In my view, reindustrialising France is one of the current priorities for building a greener economy and stabilising, revitalising and calming social relations in our country. So let's go !