Patrick Martin, candidate for the presidency of Medef, advocates growth in the face of the climate crisis

The program "does not break with everything we have been able to do with Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux over the past five years", but is part of an "environment that has changed" with in particular the important place taken by the “climate peril”, “which explains why we amplify a certain number of subjects” or that we deal with new ones, explained Patrick Martin during a press conference.

According to the candidate who faces for the presidency of Medef the current vice-president of the employers' organization Dominique Carlac'h, "our country is in a relative difficulty because it does not produce enough".

"Without growth, I do not see how we will finance the massive investments to which we are required - companies, households, the public sphere too - to maintain the trajectory of decarbonization, I do not see how we will create the jobs and the purchasing power to which very legitimately our fellow citizens aspire, I do not see how we will sustainably balance our social systems", explained Patrick Martin.

Asked about the conclusions of the report by economist Jean Pisani-Ferry, which recommends increased public debt and exceptional taxation of the financial assets of the richest to finance the investments necessary to combat global warming, Patrick Martin estimated that this would send a very negative message" and "would divert investments from France".

He also insisted on the imperative of growth to "ensure the sustainability of our social model, the financing of which will be more and more demanding with the aging of the population", according to his program which affirms that "there is no no redistribution without growth".

The current deputy president of Medef was surrounded by Paola Fabiani, president of Comex 40, an "idea incubator" of Medef, and Bastien Brunis, president of Medef Est Parisien (Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne ).

Both will be "called upon to exercise responsibilities" within his team at the head of the Medef if he is elected, just like the current vice-president Fabrice Le Saché, who also supports his candidacy, said Patrick Martin.

Dominique Carlac'h will hold a press conference on Wednesday. The election will take place on July 6.