In 2022, digital technology occupies an increasingly important place in our lives and therefore undeniably in politics. France Digitale, the lobby of French start-ups, offers a comparison of candidate programs in the presidential election on the various subjects relating to digital technology. Verdict: even if entrepreneurs are increasingly listened to and understood by candidates, digital is still too absent in the programs.
Digital: France Digitale dissects the candidates’ programs
Several major themes have been analyzed by France Digitale. In particular, you can access a comparison on the taxation and financing of the ecosystem. On France’s sovereignty vis-à-vis GAFAM, on digital education and training, on cybersecurity, on labor law, on innovation and impact, on public procurement or on the state of public services. In this comparison, you will not find a proposal from Emmanuel Macron: the candidate President has not yet published a program. The “small candidates”, Jean Lassalle, Philippe Poutou and Nathalie Arthaud, were not taken into account.
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Overall, the association believes that digital is still not present enough in the campaign and that the candidates lack a global vision. We can read that “digital issues should be mentioned on all the themes of the presidential campaign”, but that is probably not the case. According to Maya Noël, managing director of France Digitale, “While the results of our startups are impressive in terms of job creation, value, innovation… much remains to be done to enable digital technology to reveal all of its opportunities for our society and our country”.
Cybersecurity, a major subject neglected by candidates?
On the subject of cybersecurity, the candidates would not have taken the full measure of the problem. According to the association, some candidates nevertheless put forward some concrete proposals to strengthen our cyber ecosystem. Among the projects: to create certification by Anssi of the telephones of all senior administrative and government officials, to create a national cyber prosecutor’s office, or even to create a veritable fleet of underwater drones to protect the cables where data flows.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, of France Insoumise stands out as the candidate who has taken over digital the most. In particular, he proposes to create a compulsory nine-month citizen conscription carried out between the ages of 18 and 25, paid at the minimum wage, with initial military training and a digital component. She “will form the basis of a national guard, notably making it possible to strengthen France’s cyber defense capabilities”. It also submits the idea of developing an international cyber law or of mobilizing digital space and spatial reality to install defensive and non-lethal systems against aggression and for peace.
On this same subject, Anne Hidalgo, for the Socialist Party, simply proposes “strengthen Europe’s defense with a real common industrial strategy and support for research and development, to deal with the main cybersecurity threats”. Without making any real proposals, the ecologist Yannick Jadot wishes “strengthen the means of the State against cybercrime, harassment and hate online”. For her part, the Republican candidate, Valérie Pécresse wants to make French and European companies in cybersecurity or artificial intelligence champions of sovereignty like Tehtris or OVH.
A common front against the GAFAM monopoly
On the subject of French and European sovereignty in relation to GAFAM, “the big digital subject of the campaign”, the condemnation of the quasi-monopoly situation of the tech giants is unanimous among the candidates. They are all aware of the imbalance between large technological companies and other actors, economic or state. On the other hand, few concrete solutions have been put forward to remedy this. Several candidates are calling for new taxes in the digital sector (Marine Le Pen, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot, Fabien Roussel).
The candidates on the left have made many proposals on this subject. From the most extreme with Yannick Jadot and the implementation of a national and European law “dismantling GAFAM”, through the nationalization of the most important digital infrastructures with Jean-Luc Mélenchon, to the idea of limiting the power of GAFAM by guaranteeing pluralism and competition with Anne Hidalgo. On the far right, Éric Zemmour wants to bring out sovereign French solutions in the cloud and invest in disruptive technologies. Marine Le Pen, for the National Rally, suggests being more vigilant with regard to the Chinese digital giants.
It appears from this comparison that some candidates take measures that are sometimes too caricatural and unrealistic. Proposing the dismantling of GAFAM is one of the examples. Such a measure could jeopardize foreign investment in France and hinder the development of startups, according to France Digital. Finally, Mélenchon is one of the only candidates to want to guarantee Net neutrality and refuse the private censorship operated by GAFAM on social networks. According to him, “France must defend another model of the Internet”.
There is an urgent need to accelerate the digital transformation of the public service, but this is not the opinion of all the candidates
Regarding the public service, France Digitale considers that the absence of a proposal from a Ministry of Digital is harmful, “while there is an essential issue of incarnation. We want a pilot on the plane, able to sit permanently on the Council of Ministers and in interministerial meetings”. In its analysis, France Digitale notes temptations to “denumerization” among left-wing candidates, like Jean-Luc Mélenchon who defends the return of paper forms in the administration.
What emerges in the candidates’ proposals on this subject is the need for administrative simplification. Valérie Pécresse, for example, suggests creating an “axe committee” to simplify administration. The goal is to halve legal codes and halve all administrative processing times. She explains that she wants “relying on tech companies to simplify all public service processes”. On the same subject, Éric Zemmour wishes to create a High Commissioner for Administrative Simplification, directly attached to the President of the Republic to “to rid households of administrative burdens”.
On the subject of digital accessibility, Marine Le Pen proposes “a major plan to strengthen accessibility in public transport, roads, housing and digital technology to finally meet the objective of the 2005 disability law”. Jean-Luc Mélenchon wants to introduce a minimum free access right to the Internet when Fabien Roussel would like to be able to guarantee better land use planning “so that the user can find a range of local public services near his home”. France Digitale recalls that 12% of French households are still not equipped with computer equipment and that 17% of French people are illiterate.
The subtle balance between innovation and impact
On the left as on the right, the candidates have clearly understood the importance and the need to strengthen the links between private/public research, and between academic research and business. A subject addressed on October 12, 2021 by Emmanuel Macron at the time of the presentation of the France 2030 plan. On this subject, France Digitale believes that the next five-year period must imperatively be that of concretization. Eric Zemmour took up the subject. He wants to allocate 3% of GDP to research and development by 2027 and upgrade research and innovation centres.
Yannick Jadot wants him to redirect the Research Tax Credit (CIR) towards projects aimed at decarbonizing and relocating our economy as well as preserving biodiversity. It nevertheless wishes to allocate 1% of the national GDP to public research by 2025 to create 10,000 teacher-researcher positions and support teaching practices that promote interdisciplinarity. Nicolas Dupont-Aignan suggests “better remunerating researchers and doctoral students” and to pay royalties on the industrial exploitation of patents to promote researchers and engineers.
France Digitale points the finger at false good ideas on the establishment of data centers that certain left-wing candidates wish to restrict on our territory. Anne Hidalgo proposes in particular to engage in digital sobriety, because “digital technology already contributes more than air transport to greenhouse gas emissions and its impact is increasing rapidly”. It would therefore like to oblige the main data center operators to draw up a charter for reducing their carbon footprint. Jean-Luc Mélenchon wants to lower the heat production of data centers and submit them to a construction permit.
Digital is present in the programs of the candidates, to varying degrees and with different strategies. We see that candidates on the left and on the right are sensitive to the subject of digital transformation. It will be interesting to observe Emmanuel Macron’s proposals and above all to analyze how the elected candidate will implement his strategy. France must catch up with the major world powers on this subject.