The sites concerned include production lines, research and development centres and logistics platforms. 31 extensions and 25 modernisations of existing plants are to be added to this list. So is this the beginning of a "wave"? No, not yet, this movement would rather be described as anecdotal. In south-west France, only 2% of aeronautical and space companies have decided to relocate part of their production since the first pandemic.
If we include the government aid distributed at national level as well as by the EU under the COVID crisis, we would be tempted to answer in the affirmative. 830 million to reindustrialise. The behaviour of public authorities and consumers alike encourages national consumption and the promotion of short circuits. The health crisis has cruelly revealed to the general public the dependence of European economies on the globalisation of essential products, the shortage of surgical masks having provided the most blatant example.
It has also brought to the fore the absolute necessity of preserving national companies and agricultural land from the predation of foreign financial players, whether Chinese or American.
For the WTO, the answer is mixed. Less trade could slow down global production at the risk of a loss of welfare for all. In its annual report, the WTO even states that: "Measures to restrict trade, hoard domestic supplies and strengthen national self-sufficiency, far from reducing economic insecurity, have served to increase it, by disrupting supply chains, slowing production".
Moreover, if companies relocate, they create fewer jobs because of the robotisation of tasks. So no miracle on the employment front, but undeniably a plus for the climate because of the lower carbon cost of transporting manufactured goods, which is currently very polluting.
The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, for example, has made the relocation of companies a priority, with the aim of returning industries and jobs to its territory. Since his accession to the head of the Region in 2016, Laurent WAUQUIEZ has never ceased to highlight the resources of the territory he comes from. With an economic potential made up of large industrial groups that are leaders in their field as well as numerous innovative start-ups and family-owned SMEs, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region is the leading industrial region in France. Under the impetus of the public authorities, close ties have been forged. Moreover, the latter support innovative projects by enabling the relocation of production from abroad to the national and regional territory.
Another European region, Wallonia, has launched a call for projects to "Support the relocation of food". It was launched on 17 September 2020 and initially aimed to support around ten territorial initiatives. In the end, it mobilised four times as many and 145 projects were submitted by companies, public authorities or associations. This is proof, if any were needed, of a real dynamic on the subject. The projects are varied and innovative, whether it be the development of short circuits, an organic cereal sector, an organic vegetable sector, the production of Walloon sunflower oil or the support of a "regional food belt". The support provided takes the form of funding of up to €100,000 per project per year for 3 years.
So, if we can say that the relocation movement is timid, it is nonetheless a fundamental and solid dynamic, which does not only include the strict definition of a relocation of industry, but also a relocation/transformation of industrial, agricultural and commercial activities. It is not only the search for economic sovereignty that is at stake, but also the active awareness of the imperative need to conceive of our human activities differently in order to preserve the climate, but beyond that, to redesign human exchanges and our relationship with nature.