Question 13314 — industry

Summary

Mr. Auguste Evrard questions the Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial, Energy and Digital Sovereignty, responsible for industry, on the consequences of the judicial recovery of ARC France, pronounced on January 7, 2026 by the Lille commercial court and on the major industrial and territorial consequences that it entails for the survival of the national industrial fabric. Located in Arques in the Pas-de-Calais for almost two centuries, ARC France constitutes one of the most important industrial sites in the country and one of the last large integrated European glass centers. In this territory, historically shaped by mining, steelmaking and processing industries, the Arques site represents much more than an industrial establishment: it is a structuring pillar of employment, professional training, local subcontracting and the productive identity of an entire living area. Despite more than 200 million euros in public aid mobilized since 2019, the company has not been able to absorb the rapid deterioration of its market environment. The group indicates that the tableware sector has declined by 15 to 20% in 2025, in a context of imports offered at prices four to five times lower than French production costs. This situation highlights the particular vulnerability of energy-intensive industries, faced with massive differences in production costs and standards with certain third countries. The examination of the sole takeover offer from ARC France announced on March 10, 2026 directly involves the future of thousands of industrial jobs in a department whose unemployment rate remains structurally higher than the national average and where the possibilities of heavy industrial reconversion are limited. In Pas-de-Calais, each closure or significant reduction in activity produces a negative multiplier effect on businesses, services, local finances and social cohesion. This file cannot be isolated. Pas-de-Calais is accumulating industrial shocks: judicial liquidation of Wizpaper in Wizernes at the end of 2025, closure of the RDM site in Blendecques in August 2024, removals of positions on the ArcelorMittal sites in Dunkirk and Mardyck in 2025. Paper, steel, chemicals or glass: these sectors have in common that they are exposed to international competition characterized by considerable differences in social, environmental and energy standards. While the Government highlights a national dynamic of reindustrialization, recent data questions the territorial reality of this policy. If the net balance of openings of industrial sites reached 176 in 2022 and 189 in 2023, it fell to 89 in 2024 then to 9 in the first half of 2025. By distinguishing the net creations of new sites from simple extensions, the first half of 2025 would show 82 closures or significant reductions for 44 actual openings. Hauts-de-France has also recorded a continuous negative industrial balance since 2022 and the Pas-de-Calais is among the departments most exposed to this erosion. These figures raise a central question: does the industrial sovereignty policy really benefit historically productive territories like Pas-de-Calais, or does it primarily focus on new activities without compensating for losses in traditional sectors? Industrial sovereignty is not only measured by the implementation of new technological activities; it also presupposes the capacity of the State to preserve complete sectors, know-how accumulated over several generations and structuring employment areas. In this context, the MP wishes to know how the Government intends to more strictly condition public aid to industrial companies, particularly in weakened areas such as Pas-de-Calais, so that they are accompanied by legally binding commitments to maintain activity, productive investment and employment; what levers available to the State can be mobilized to protect industrial sectors established in Pas-de-Calais against imports carried out under clearly unbalanced conditions of competition; what territorialized strategy of reindustrialization he envisages for departments experiencing a continuous negative industrial balance and in particular for Pas-de-Calais, in order to avoid a lasting decline; finally, what precise guarantees in terms of jobs, production capacities, maintenance of the Arques site and territorial anchoring of decisions will be required from any potential buyer benefiting from public support at the end of the hearing on March 10, 2026.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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