Posted Sep 28, 2022, 4:24 PM
Launched during Emmanuel Macron’s first five-year term, the Pacte law was described by Bruno Le Maire, who then carried the text as an action plan to transform businesses and boost growth in France. Its impact had even been assessed by the Treasury at 1 point of additional GDP over the long term.
Three years after its entry into force, the impact of this text consisting of 221 articles remains difficult to measure. The effective implementation of the measures is, in many cases, too “recent”, recognizes France Strategy in its third law monitoring report published this Wednesday.
The Covid-19 pandemic has also come into conflict with the objectives of this law, a veritable Prévert-style inventory which provides for both the reform of retirement savings, the simplification of thresholds and the privatization of La Française des Jeux.
Success of the new PER
As every year since the adoption of the law, 23 themes have nevertheless been evaluated. Among the satisfactions, the monitoring committee points in particular to the success of the new retirement savings plan which has 5.6 million holders – against 3 million targeted in 2022 in an admittedly favorable context of over-saving by households during the health crisis.
Or again, the new procedure for opposition to the granting of patents which has enabled numerous legal remedies.
Risk of cannibalization
The picture appears more contrasted on other points. With regard to the sharing of value that the executive calls for to support purchasing power, progress is timid, hampered by the health crisis. Between 2018 and 2020, the proportion of employees benefiting from a profit-sharing agreement only increased by 1.7%, from 32.8% to 34.4%. That covered by a profit-sharing agreement rose even more slowly, by 1%, to 39.3%.
France Strategy notes a risk, pointed out by certain players, of cannibalization of these devices by the Macron bonus which has just been renamed “value sharing bonus”. As for employee shareholding, it is progressing mainly due to listed companies. But the share of capital held by employees is falling.
No noticeable effects
For its part, the status of company with a mission is certainly emulated, chosen by 731 companies in the 1er September 2022, compared to 207 at the end of 2020. However, the system remains “marginal” in the French economy and mainly concerns small businesses. “It is too early to know the effects on governance,” said Brice Richard, rapporteur for the evaluation committee. Similarly, the impact of the modification of social and tax thresholds introduced by the law remains “difficult to assess”.
For the first time, France Strategy has also attempted to assess the impact of the transformation of the tax credit for competitiveness and employment (CICE), created during the five-year term of François Hollande, into a reduction in charges which took place in January 2019. “The conclusion is rather disappointing. A poorly targeted and massive measure, the CICE has, according to our micro-econometric estimates, made it possible to create around 100,000 jobs at a cost of 20 billion euros. These estimates do not take into account diffusion effects in the economy. And we do not see any significant effect in 2019 from its transformation into a reduction in expenses, ”says Cédric Audenis, Deputy Commissioner General of France Strategy.
