New official figures from the HCSP shed light on the debate on the cost and nature of public support for businesses, as the 2027 budget approaches.
The High Commission for Strategy and Planning (HCSP) published this Friday a highly anticipated report on the amount of public aid benefiting businesses in France for the year 2023. According to this document, public support for businesses amounts to 187 billion euros, a figure which promises to fuel budgetary and political discussions as the examination of the finance bill approaches in the fall.
Two perimeters for unique encryption
The HCSP report, led by Clément Beaune, High Commissioner for Strategy and Planning, distinguishes two perimeters for evaluating aid. The first, more restricted, lists direct and targeted aid to businesses, amounting to 82 billion euros in 2023. This scope includes budgetary and tax expenditures, direct aid paid by communities, targeted exemptions from social contributions as well as financial interventions such as loans, guarantees or participations.
The second, broader scope also includes indirect aid from communities, reduced VAT rates and general exemptions from contributions. This expanded scope brings the total public support to 187 billion euros for the past year. This figure, although slightly lower than the evaluation of the 2025 senatorial report which estimated these measures at 211 billion euros, remains considerable and likely to revive the controversy over the generosity of the State towards businesses.
The debate on the amount, scope and effectiveness of public aid to businesses is recurring in France. In just under 25 years, no less than twelve reports have attempted to disentangle fact from fiction, without ever reaching an agreement. The HCSP, to establish its 90-page report, interviewed parliamentarians from all sides, unions, employers and local authorities, with the aim of “going beyond the passionate debate” which surrounds this subject.
The very definition of aid is the subject of discussion. The report defines it as “any public intervention which mobilizes public resources for the benefit of a company or an entity carrying out an economic activity, by providing it with an identifiable economic advantage, without equivalent compensation in goods, services, assets or public service mission”.
Clément Beaune also recognizes: “The very term aid can be debated, because aid gives the impression that we are paying a check in the form of a gift. When in fact, it always has a public policy purpose.” He adds: “There will never be an indisputable figure” regarding business aid.
A major political and budgetary issue
This new figure comes in a context of strong tensions on public finances, while the State plans budget cuts in most ministries. The amount of aid could encourage certain parliamentarians to request an increased contribution from the economic world. The Socialist Party, in its first drafts of the presidential program, therefore proposes to “immediately redirect 30 billion in public aid identified as ineffective”.
On the employers’ side, the very term “aid” is regularly contested. Amir Reza-Tofighi, president of Entrepreneurs (ex-CPME), says: “Aid always hides public policy issues. Very often, businesses are not helped, they are simply actors in a transition to which the State provides resources.” Patrick Martin, president of Medef, declared last fall: “This aid is compensation and whatever the calculation we arrive at, French companies remain the most taxed in the world”.
Towards a better evaluation of devices
The HCSP proposes that the perimeters and costings retained be the subject of a budget document, integrated into the finance bill from this fall. This approach aims to stabilize the public debate by allowing an annual comparison of support systems. The report also recommends the establishment of a multi-annual program to evaluate each business aid system, in order to meet the expectations of trade union organizations and to strengthen the monitoring of these measures.
For Clément Beaune, the main thing is to move the question from “how much does it cost?” towards “how is it evolving and how do we evaluate?”, in order to inform the public debate and improve the management of public finances.
