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PARIS (Reuters) – France invests in a Bridgestone tire factory threatened with closure, the head of his regional government said Sunday as he plans to oppose President Emmanuel Macron in 2022, before a ministerial stopover at the site.
The call of Xavier Bertrand, a former minister who now heads the Hauts-de-France region, adds pressure to the government to prevent the total closure of the facility, at a time when the coronavirus pandemic is fighting against trust.
The Japanese tire manufacturer’s announcement Wednesday of its goal of closing the Bethune plant, which employs 863 people in northern Bertrand, was temporarily condemned by the government.
Labor Minister Elisabeth Borne is expected to arrive at the plant on Monday.
Bertrand, a conservative who served as fitness minister from 2005 to 2007 in Nicolas Sarkozy’s government, told Radio Europe 1 that “everything will have to be done” to avoid closure, bringing a 2013 precedent in which Italy invested in a Bridgestone plant to avoid closure and save 60% of its jobs.
Bertrand also intensified his complaint about Macron in a separate interview with Le Parisien, saying he was “more determined than ever” to challenge France’s centrist president in the upcoming presidential election.
(Report via Tangi Salaun and Laurence Frost; Editing through Alex Richardson)