THE BUSINESS OF FRANCE WILL FACE A WAVE OF AUTUMN BANKRUPTCIES

As the quarantine measures, caused by the pandemic, are being lifted in Europe, the small business is gradually recovering and starting to make the forecasts of further development on the market. In France, 99.8% of all commercial organizations, operating in the country are small and medium-sized businesses. Some entrepreneurs are designated by the TPE abbreviation. These are microenterprises with no more than 10 employees.

Others are called the term PME. They represent a small and medium business, where the number of employees does not exceed 250 people.

As data from the numerous sociological studies show, most of the companies are pessimistic, anticipating the future crisis of the autumn of 2020 that the country has not experienced since the World War II.

The reasons for such a mood are obvious. For the moment, the state is trying to help all the areas that have suffered from the pandemic. However, the financial aid streams will be gradually stopped, not counting several industries that have suffered the most. The latter, including tourism organizations and the sphere of culture, can still hope that even after the abolition of all the restrictive measures, financial subsidies from the state will continue. The same cannot be said about other entrepreneurs, waiting for the autumn avalanche of bankruptcies. The Minister of Economy of France, Bruno Le Mayor, announced it on May 22.

While the French media note that the support, provided by the state, was less than in the neighboring Germany, the country's authorities urge not to relax.

The loans that were taken under the state guarantees will still have to be repaid, the experts say, calling them "time bombs."

Along with the system of free psychological assistance by telephone, which was organized at the end of April by the French Ministry of Economy for managers of companies and numerous enterprises, by the end of May, a special psychological support service for self-employed and small entrepreneurs of the TPE-PME segment appeared as well. It was created by a professional association of local enterprises, hiring thirty psychologists that are conducting daily consultations 12 hours a day.

The social studies of the cases show that more than 88% of managers of small and medium-sized businesses in France have stressful experiences, associated with the future maintenance of their business.

There is a conflict between wage earners (approximately 6.3 million people, that is, half of the entire private labor market, work in small and medium-sized businesses) and business leaders (there are about 4 million of them). The leaders of the companies do not want to pay bonuses to employees during a period of downtime, and the latter think that they will achieve this at all costs. The social discord could be mitigated by the money of tourists, who visit France annually, but the tourist season has not started yet, and when would it start, no one can say for sure.