Sophie Primas, Vice-President of the Senate, appointed Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and French People Abroad | EUROtoday

Her title had already been circulating for a number of days for overseas commerce. On Saturday, September 21, Sophie Primas, senator for Yvelines since 2011 and vice-president of the Senate, formally inherited this portfolio, accomplished by that of French individuals overseas. She, who for six years chaired the Economic Affairs Committee, had introduced in June that she was leaving Les Républicains as a way to act on her rejection of the settlement between Éric Ciotti and the National Rally for the 2024 legislative elections.

An agricultural engineer and graduate in advertising from Essec, she entered politics on the Aubergenville (Yvelines) city corridor in 2001, initially as an assistant, earlier than being elected mayor within the 2014 municipal elections. In June 2010, this shut buddy of Gérard Larcher was elected MP for Yvelines and commenced her profession in Parliament, the place she had the chance, on a number of events, to work on points associated to French competitiveness.

In specific, she was very crucial of the free commerce settlement between the European Union and Mercosur.. “International trade theories teach us that free trade allows for overall economic gains, but this is always to the detriment of reallocations between countries, between companies, between more or less productive sectors. In this game, our European agriculture and particularly our French agriculture are very often the losers.”she declared on January 22, on Public Sénat.

Concerned about France's commerce deficit

She, who has often identified the numerous French commerce deficit, doesn’t inherit the best state of affairs on this regard. Between 2020 and 2022, the imbalance in overseas commerce constituted a critical handicap for the French economic system: in accordance with figures from the French Economic Observatory (OFCE), the contribution of this merchandise to progress barely reached one cumulative level during the last three years. And in 2022, the commerce deficit reached 164 billion euros, or 6 factors of gross home product. A historic file for the reason that finish of the Second World War.

This poor determine can definitely be defined by cyclical components, corresponding to the autumn in aeronautical exports on the one hand and the surge within the value of imported power, significantly because of the conflict in Ukraine. But it additionally displays a lack of market share for French producers in exports, a extra worrying determine in the long run.

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