Suspension of MaPrimeRénov: "15% of our turnover is disappearing," estimates the French Building Federation

It's now official: the government will temporarily close applications for single-family homes linked to MaPrimeRénov, the energy renovation assistance program for homes. This was announced on Wednesday, June 4, by the Minister of Economy and Finance, Eric Lombard. The government justifies its decision by citing an increase in applications and numerous cases of fraud.

It's not just homeowners who will be affected by this interruption, but also the construction and crafts sector, already in crisis . This Thursday, around twenty professional federations joined forces in a press release to express their "astonishment" and "concerns," and at the same time requested a meeting with Prime Minister François Bayrou. Among the signatories, Olivier Salleron, president of the French Building Federation (FFB), an employers' organization that brings together 50,000 companies in the sector, denounced a decision that "slashes the energy renovation market."

What impact will the suspension of MaPrimeRénov aid have on the construction sector?

That's 15% of our turnover going up in smoke. While this aid is a good initiative for the planet, it's also essential for our craft industry, which was at its lowest. 80% of the building and construction trades are affected, from masons who do exterior insulation to electricians, plumbers, heating engineers, and plasterers. All craftspeople, the entire energy renovation economy, are affected. In total, 100,000 people working in this sector are at risk of finding themselves out of work before the end of the year.

What is your opinion on this decision ?

After what we've been going through for the past two years, that is, a 50 to 70% drop in new real estate construction, now we're slashing the renovation market! It's petty, it's petty earning. So, sure, several hundred million euros won't come out of the state coffers, but in that case, don't promise us a system on January 1st, only to have it eliminated on July 1st. And then, it's hitting one of the only sectors that can't be outsourced: construction, which employs 2.3 million people. We represent more than 15% of the private sector workforce. Not to mention that by shutting down the energy renovation market, and therefore trained and qualified employees, we're creating a bed of illegal and undeclared work, which appears massively in these periods of uncertainty.

To justify the freezing of aid, the State highlights the number of cases of fraud. What do you think?

It's an excuse not to spend the allocated budget. Of course, there are fraudulent companies trying to recruit craftsmen, attempting to exploit the windfall of public aid. We see this clearly when a structure is created from scratch in Brest and undertakes work for private individuals by having contracts signed in Nice, Strasbourg, or Lille... Obviously, there's a wolf behind it. But these are often large companies outside the construction world. And above all, we just have to make the effort to look into it: today, digital tools exist that allow us to control these phenomena much more effectively. But on the government side, the resources have not been allocated. We see this as a real injustice, because if we were to stop all the activities in which we find fraud, we would also suspend Social Security, unemployment insurance, or public aid everywhere else. Yet, we don't do it. It's the construction industry that's being hit, and those who win are the cheats.