An assessment of the Dijon Métropole Economic Recovery Fund was delivered on Tuesday, May 11. In partnership with the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, more than 3.5 million euros have been paid to 271 local businesses to help them overcome the crisis.
It was at the restaurant Quetign’eat at David Ranson, central place Roger Rémond in Quetigny, that the elected representatives of the Dijon metropolis and representatives of the consular chambers were invited.
Not to formalize the reopening of the sign – a little early compared to the government announcements and the deadlines unveiled -, but to affirm in a way symbolically that “the end of the tunnel is no longer very far”, even if the crisis was painful and had a strong impact on economic activity.
It is also an assessment of the Economic Recovery Fund of Dijon Métropole which was to be done this Tuesday, May 11, 2021. Almost 15 months after the first confinement.
“The elected officials accompanied in the acts those who needed it”
After describing the crisis as an “unprecedented” period, the socialist mayor of Dijon and president of Dijon Métropole François Rebsamen recognized the importance of state aid, in particular through partial unemployment “which was a back-up for businesses ”.
At the metropolitan level, the stake was, according to the president, to “help an active economy that creates jobs”. Relying on the figures of the FREM, in other words the amounts of aid, François Rebsamen declared: “The elected officials accompanied in the acts those who needed it”. By underlining that Dijon Métropole is during this crisis “the second metropolis after that of Nice” concerning the total of the direct aid granted.
Having been rather optimistic about the announced exit from the crisis, François Rebsamen said to expect, according to data from Pôle Emploi, 15,000 job creations in the Dijon metropolis this year, “or 15% of job creations. jobs expected in the region in 2021 ”.
As mayor of Dijon, however, he announced that efforts to support commercial and tourist activity will be continued: “8 months of exemptions from terraces until the end of June, that represents nearly a million dollars. euros for the City. In 2021, we will renew the free extension of the terraces, the equivalent of 400,000 euros. And we will launch a major communication campaign, so that it starts again ”.
Since the period is favorable for the launch of electoral campaigns, François Rebsamen, relatively quiet since his re-election in 2020 as mayor of Dijon, followed by that of the presidency of Dijon Métropole, did not fail to send a few messages. On the urban orientations taken by the municipality, he affirmed: “We wear a model of secure growth. We do not believe that building housing is bad for life. It is an act of faith and of economic and social progress ”.
François Rebsamen also defended the weight of the Dijon metropolis: “I was reading comments from someone not very frequent the other day who said that the development of the Metropolis is done to the detriment of the rural world. I would like to tell you that not at all. Why is the price of water cheaper in Metropolitan France than elsewhere? When we invest, when we prepare for the future, not only can we provide the inhabitants with the right services and that does not hurt. By the way, I would remind you that we have a partnership with the Côte-d’Or Chamber of Agriculture on sustainable food and that we arrive at 40% organic meals in our canteens. I say it for those who say 100% Côte-d’Or. We are 100% in Côte-d’Or if it is organic and clean ”.
“The fruit of partnership and responsiveness”
Vice-President of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regional Council in charge of economic development, new growth and employment, Jean-Claude Lagrange then spoke of FREM as “the fruit of partnership and responsiveness” between the Region and Dijon Métropole, with the support and expertise of the consular chambers “to face difficulties and share files”.
For the elected regional representative, the FREM as well as other support plans are not limited to the distribution of public money but “they are devices developed in the vicinity”. Jean-Claude Lagrange insists on their effectiveness in the period of crisis: “Some craftsmen were able to invest, it made the trade work in spite of everything”. As for aid in the direction of rural areas, the regional vice-president responds to the “character who is not able to go out without the poster of his blonde mother” that 108 out of the 113 EPCIs in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté have adhered to the aid mechanisms put in place by the current regional majority.
At the time of this FREM review, François Rebsamen and Jean-Claude Lagrange therefore focused on measures adapted to the territory, shock absorbers in the face of difficulties but also vectors of investment to overcome the context. Aid for which the accessibility criteria were extended during the crisis, in particular to newly created companies.
“The economic world and the political world have come together, it is not often. Its aid has enabled a certain number of companies to move forward, ”Xavier Mirepoix, president of the Côte-d’Or Dijon Métropole Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said on Tuesday, emphasizing the exemplary nature of the organization. set up in which the consular chambers were in a way expert intermediaries between existing aid and potential beneficiaries.
“The crisis is still there. There is still a lot to do, ”warned Xavier Mirepoix.
The president of the Côte-d’Or delegation of the Chamber of Trades and Crafts Régis Penneçot noted: “There has been a national, regional and metropolitan desire to help as easily, as quickly and as possible. ‘a very pragmatic commercial and craft enterprises. The Metropolis was not afraid to open the floodgates and to help us enormously, to also modify the regulations when we noticed that there were holes in the racket ”.
For the representative of the CMA, the support to be prepared today is more psychological, when companies will no longer benefit from aid and the loans will have to be repaid. “We will still be there”, strongly wished Régis Penneçot.
Alix Berthier
Photos: Alix Berthier
The Dijon Métropole Economic Recovery Fund
(extracts from the press release)
In spring 2020, the metropolitan economic recovery fund was initiated in consultation with the region’s economic partners – CCI, CMA, MEDEF Côte-d’Or, CPME Côte-d’Or, federation of Dijon traders, order of accountants – mobilized alongside the community to find solutions to ensure the survival of the smallest structures and create the conditions for a sustainable recovery. The system was organized with the support of the Region, in complementarity and in articulation with the economic actions already undertaken, in particular by the Region within the framework of the “Regional Pact for the territories”.
With a total amount of more than 3.5 million euros, the FREM offered two types of aid:
– Direct aid to businesses and support for the local economy with a budget of more than 2.5 million euros? This device managed directly by the metropolis with delegation of aid granting from the Region had for objective to support as a priority small craft, commercial and service companies encountering economic difficulties in the form of direct aid to companies (subsidies for tangible or intangible investment, reimbursement of loans) and engineering services , communication actions, collective actions for the benefit of local economy businesses, whether carried out through public or associative support (charged either in operation or in investment).
Amount: from € 1,000 to € 15,000. It is the professional sectors that are administratively closed that have been the most demanding: 122 establishments in the Cafés / hotels / restaurants sector have received direct aid.
At the metropolitan level, as close as possible to businesses, direct aid was distributed on request, according to needs and emergencies, and after examination and vote by the allocation committee. To guarantee the expertise and neutrality of the community in the management of this aid, Dijon Métropole relied on the advice of a commission made up of economic partners.
– Repayable advances to businesses
This fund territorialized to the entire region of more than 1 million euros was managed by the Region. It was supported on an equal basis by the Banque des Territoires and Dijon Métropole to the tune of € 253,638, the financial participation of the community being directed towards metropolitan businesses. The aid was mainly used to consolidate cash flow requirements and to set up investment projects …
Amount: from € 3,000 to € 15,000.
Beyond the FREM, the local authority has implemented other actions such as: exemption from rent for establishments renting its buildings (nearly € 898,000), modification of the payment schedule for the tourist tax by tourism professionals, exemption for taxis in the Dijon metropolitan area from the half-yearly parking fee, authorization for exceptional Sunday opening for shops (5 Sundays out of 2021) …
FREM in figures: assessment of the system
The amount of the recovery fund amounts to: € 3,572,380 financed by:
Dijon Métropole: € 1,014,552 (€ 760,914 in direct aid / € 253,638 in reimbursable advances)
Region: € 2,304,190 (€ 1,775,466 in direct aid / € 528,724 in reimbursable advances) Banque des Territoires € 253,638 (reimbursable advances)
Direct aid: € 2,536,380 including € 2,373,901 already allocated (€ 162,479 to be granted by the end of May)
Operation: € 875,000 / investment: € 1,498,243
195 companies supported spread over 15 of the 23 municipalities of the metropolis:
– 33 artisans (17% of assisted cases having received 13% of the FREM envelope)
– 162 companies registered in the trade register (83% of assisted cases having received 87% of the FREM envelope)
820 jobs concerned (including 93% from very small businesses with less than 10 employees)
Sectors of activity assisted:
– Cafés / hotels / restaurants: 122 (63%) / € 1,504,295 (63%)
– Services : 29 (15 %) / 363 057 € (15 %)
– Culture / leisure / sports: 16 (8%) / € 217,000 (9%)
– Well-being and beauty: 13 (7%) / 151,466 € (6%)
– Clothing and shoes: 6 (3%) / € 57,937 (3%)
– Catering: 4 (2%) / 35,161 € (2%)
– Other retail businesses: 2 (1%) / € 17,800 (1%)
– Information and communication: 2 (1%) / € 19,826 (1%)
– Household equipment: 1 (0%) / € 7,362 (0%)
21 committees held since 04 09 2020 (last 1 to come)
Refundable advances: € 1,036,000 (amount allocated in its entirety / mechanism open until the end of the year to all new requests and replenished by the Region up to € 4 million)
76 companies supported (€ 13,361 the average amount of aid over an average grace period of 14.5 months with a possibility of reimbursement over 43 months)
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