France: Is there a need for quid pro quos for business-friendly economic policies?

The French government has introduced business-friendly economic policies (tax cuts, aid for recruitment and apprenticeships, aid for troubled sectors, loans with state guarantee, sectoral aid for reshoring), and many voices (left-wing political parties, trade unions) have asked the government to require quid pro quos in exchange for these business-friendly policies. Should quid pro quos be explicitly defined? The answer is no, for several reasons: In some cases, the question of quid pro quos makes no sense, because the government aid is linked to action by companies: recruitment aid is paid if there is recruitment , reshoring aid is paid if there is reshoring; The experience of the period 2017-2019 in France, before the COVID crisis, shows that companies react positively (increase in employment, including in industry, increased investment, modernisation) to policies that are positive for them (labour market reform, reduction in social contributions); The best practice is to assess public policies ex post after a few years so that they have had time to have an effect, and to end the ineffective policies, not to set conditions for their implementation; The diversity of individual company situations means that any negotiation of quid pro quos , if it is to take place at all, can only take place within the framework of social dialogue in companies, and certainly not at national level.