Foreign ministries are in turmoil, military experts are monopolizing television screens, but the real shockwave, silent and relentless, is economic. When the Revolutionary Guards block passage, shipowners halt their vessels, and global insurers simply cancel their coverage, it is the jugular vein of global industry that is severed. Nearly a fifth of the world's oil and a fifth of its liquefied natural gas are trapped there. The danger that was thought to have been averted has returned: a major, violent, and immediate supply shock.
In this storm, the real economy—that of plastics and composites—is taking the full brunt of the wave. Our raw material, which is overwhelmingly derived from petrochemicals, will inevitably suffer from the explosion in oil prices. Yet our materials are everywhere: food packaging, automotive components, aeronautics, medical equipment. This increase in our production costs will spread like wildfire across a myriad of downstream sectors. Imported inflation will once again hit shopping carts and the purchasing power of French consumers.
The triple punishment: our regulatory masochism must stop
But in addition to this double global penalty (logistical and energy-related), French industry is imposing a third, purely endogenous penalty on itself, which, let's be frank, is deadly.
While the world is in turmoil and our international competitors are securing their positions at all costs, France persists in burdening its manufacturers with regulatory constraints that we are the only ones in the world to impose on ourselves. The frenzied over-transposition of European texts (as illustrated by the DDADUE bill) and the punitive, dogmatic, and blind accumulation of AGEC laws are now tantamount to economic suicide. Let's call a spade a spade: this is a deliberate act of sabotage orchestrated by our own administration.
The irony of this situation is cruel. To free ourselves from the dictatorship of oil, there is an alternative, and it is industrial: recycled plastic, particularly in packaging (which accounts for more than 40% of our sector). But structuring a massive and sustainable resource is a colossal challenge. The reality on the ground is relentless. How can you expect our companies to invest millions of euros in the circular economy and recycling capacity when, at the same time, the French government is doing everything it can to ban single-use plastic? We are being asked to survive a global tsunami, while being forced to step into the ring with our hands tied behind our backs by absurd administrative constraints.
The time of repeal
This geopolitical shock must sweep away our naivety. The famous "industrial sovereignty," a mantra repeated ad nauseam by the executive branch on the campaign trail, today reveals its profound hypocrisy. Sovereignty cannot be decreed in ministries; it is measured by our ability to keep our factories running when the world comes to a halt.
Such an international shock cannot be absorbed without loosening the national stranglehold. Since the government cannot indefinitely compensate for the explosion in energy bills with debt-financed public checks, it must use the only free, immediate, and effective lever at its disposal: radical simplification.
The urgent need for action demands the repeal of French measures that contravene European law and the most punitive provisions of the AGEC law. The longer this Middle East conflict drags on, the more our factories will be suffocated. The urgent need to act to free our businesses is no longer just rhetoric; it is a matter of survival.
The Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed. France, for its part, must finally open its eyes to its own self-sabotage.