France's Bureaucracy Crusade: Macron's Government Targets Business Simplification, Saving €84 Billion Annually
France's government, led by President Macron, is pushing for bureaucratic simplification to reduce the burden on businesses and boost growth.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire presented a "simplification" bill to cabinet members this week as part of a strategy to enhance national and European competitiveness.
The goal is to ease bureaucratic constraints on French businesses, with the government stating, "We need to simplify our economy to win the confidence of entrepreneurs and encourage them to create wealth in France." The bill has been in development since November.
French small business owners spend a significant amount of time, approximately 30% more than 8 hours and 40% more than 4 hours per week, on administrative tasks due to overly-complex paperwork.
This results in an annual loss of at least €84 billion for France, equivalent to around 3% of its GDP. French Economy Minister, Le Maire, aims to reduce bureaucracy through six months of consultations with professional federations and trade unions.
A major issue identified is the redundancy of providing information to the state that it already possesses.
The French government's investigation revealed that 80% of data needed for administrative procedures were already in possession of the government, either from citizens or businesses.
To simplify processes, the government aims to transfer information between different services.
Only necessary data will be collected, and unnecessary procedures will be eliminated, as per the government's promise.