Business aid, rise of the far right... At the Fête de l'Humanité, the head of the Medef faces PCF senator Fabien Gay

While the parliamentary report by Communist Senator Fabien Gay, which highlighted the €211 billion paid to companies in 2024, promised to spark a debate at the Fête de l'Humanité between the newspaper's director and Medef president Patrick Martin, the exchange began cordially.

"It's important that we confront each other and talk. We won't agree. But there's nothing worse than not listening to each other," he said under the Agora marquee. "I went to the Ref ( the employers' union's back-to-school meeting, editor's note) where it wasn't so easy for me. Thank you for agreeing to the return match," he said.

But very quickly, we got to the heart of the matter. "I dispute these 211 billion, they are not aid but compensation. In France, we pay 60 billion more in taxes than Italian companies," attacked the boss of the bosses, assuring that he had "learned the lesson" from the face-to-face with Sophie Binet, also last year at the Fête de l'Humanité , where the general secretary of the CGT had reminded him that what he calls "social charges" are in reality contributions. But the lesson was in reality half learned: "Our companies are already participating in the effort (on the deficit) to the tune of 300 billion in taxes, excluding public aid. We can do more, we will do it even more if there is growth. But we must take into account global competition," he said.

The response was swift. "Large companies pay little or no tax. Each CAC40 company has an average of 63 subsidiaries in tax havens. Yes, large companies can and must contribute. And the ultra-rich benefit from a rent-based economy through inheritance. We must make them contribute," Fabien Gay replied.

"I'm not saying you, but I'm worried that some employers are shifting to the far right," the senator also challenged. "You have a responsibility to hold this dam." The head of the Medef (French employers' association) responded immediately: "No one can say that I'm far right." But one clarification says it all: "At the Ref, I said that I was sorry that some speakers weren't taking international competition into account. I said that Gabriel Attal, Bruno Retailleau, and to a lesser extent, Jordan Bardella, took this global competition into account."