Tax fairness, simplification: CMA France calls for a “European craft policy”

“Everyone now knows that much of what is decided in Brussels and Strasbourg guides a large number of normative texts written or voted on in Paris,” states the president of CMA France Joël Fourny in the introduction to this document.

“Europe is therefore also an issue for the craft sector, for the daily life of craft businesses as well as for their future through training and apprenticeship,” he adds.

“We call on the next European decision-makers to recognize the central importance of craft businesses in the Union's economy” and to “establish a genuine European craft policy”.

Concretely, CMA France is pleading for "a great wave of simplification in France and in Europe", like other employers' organizations such as CPME or Medef, which auditioned the French candidates for the European election on Thursday morning.

To try to remedy this, the craftsmen are asking that SMEs (of which they are part) be involved as early as possible in the "development of standards", and that each existing or future regulation be subject to a test. impact on craft businesses.

CMA France also wants greater “tax fairness” between European companies. Currently, "the burden of taxation weighs more heavily on local companies than on large groups", she believes.

In terms of financing, CMA also wants the next European decision-makers to “[facilitate] access to European funds for craft businesses” and deploy financial instruments more suited to this category of businesses.

To support “artisan-repairers” and contribute to the ecological transition, French artisans are finally pleading to “include repaired goods in goods benefiting from a reduced VAT rate”.

According to CMA France, more than 99% of European companies are SMEs and 93% have fewer than 10 employees. This network of small and medium-sized businesses represents 67% of employment on the Old Continent.