15 minutes no more. This is the time when 7 of the 12 candidates * in the presidential elections had to convince on the subject of digital technology, during the presentation organized by France Digitale and nine other associations of the French technology scene, last Wednesday 9 March. 5 minutes were allotted for the idea presentation speech and 10 minutes for the questions posed by the group members. The deadline is short to address a topic that has overshadowed since the beginning of the presidential campaign, but it made it possible to shed more light on the digital project implemented by the candidates, which until now has been somewhat ambiguous. In an attempt to seduce the subject, the contenders for the Elysee make choices. Some focus on business while others focus more on tangible measures of people. Between learning fifth-grade programming, creating a national video game center or improving Internet access, discover the proposals of the presidential candidates for the digital sector.
Its vision is mainly concentrated in the field of business. It wants digital sovereignty, which would pass through the creation of a Higher Council for Digital Sovereignty in order to “protect French coins potentially bought by a foreign company.” Thus, the candidate’s LR wants management to use 50% of the French and European programmes. It also wants to see the birth of 100% new software and algorithms made in France. Valérie Pécresse also aims to create one million digital talents by 2030. Spotted from high school, they will enroll in a national digital school where paid students will have to work for ten years in the public service. The candidate also wishes to provide computers to all French high school students. Finally, it aims to extend the digital inspection already in place in the Ile-de-France region, in order to facilitate the digital transition between merchants.
Unsurprisingly, the Reconquest filter! He also advocates for the digital sovereignty project, but in his own way. For him, the goal is not to compete with Gafam, which already holds much of the lead, but instead to deny it French data hosting. For this, he wants to devise a law obligating companies to host the “sensitive” data of the French and the “strategic” data of the state and the private sector in France. He is also one of the only candidates who have talked about Web 3.0 and want to invest quickly in Blockchain technologies. To encourage investment in start-ups, the editor wants to create an “innovation brochure” similar to a PEA and “tax-free” for resale. It also ensures a high-speed and secure internet connection for everyone. In terms of education, Eric Zemmour would like to train young people in digital sciences and programming from college. He also wants to build more schools on “Model 42,” the developer school set up by entrepreneur Xavier Niel.
The presidential candidate wants to go in the continuity of his term. To do this, he intends to “scale up” the startup ecosystem even more, announced Cedric O, the foreign minister who came to present Emmanuel Macron’s digital program during the presentation on March 9. The head of state will not skimp on the means. It plans to invest 30 billion euros annually in French technology alone. Having supported startups that have become giants and have received the status of Unicorn, the head of state now would like to support innovative companies from the very beginning of their development. Emmanuel Macron also plans to train “500,000 digital experts” over 5 years by offering fifth grade coding learning.
Jean-Luc Melenchon is tempted by the idea of digital sovereignty, but he wants it to be coordinated by the state, not by French companies. He wants the basic corporate and public services data to be hosted on servers under French law located in France. This will include “environmental and digital protectionism,” explained Bastien Lachaud, LFI’s deputy for the Seine-Saint-Denis region who came to present the candidate’s digital program at the Cirque d’Hiver stage. To encourage this project, Jean-Luc Melenchon would like to invest 200 billion euros to support ecological and digital planning. And in the event of planned obsolescence, he wants every foreign product that arrives on French territory to be subject to the same rules as French products. With regard to actions that will directly affect the French in their newspaper, the LFI candidate wants to guarantee a minimum level of free access to the Internet for all. But above all else, Jean-Luc Melenchon wants to break the codes by highlighting a sector not covered by its competitors, which is the video game sector. Hence, he aspires to create a national video game center.
Anne Hidalgo’s digital program is about social and environmental issues. You want to supervise employees of digital platforms by giving them employee status, with accompanying social and social security rights. The mayor of Paris wants more digital sovereignty in the face of Gafam, which will have to make a real commitment to environmental transformation, barring any greenwashing approach. Finally, you want to implement digital sobriety, focusing on reuse in the sector and giving a second life to electronic products. To do this, you want to encourage repackaging with a reduced 5.5% VAT on refurbished products.
The environmental candidate wants to consider a new General Data Protection Regulation, containing stricter measures on data protection that will ensure that personal data is transferred from one platform to another. Like Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Gadot talks about digital sobriety and the fight against planned obsolescence. Thus he wants to “reduce digital overproduction by dramatically increasing the environmental contribution on electronic devices”. On the tax side, the EELV candidate intends to introduce a “internet traffic contribution” tax to fund the public service role. To fight the giants of the sector, Yannick Gadot finally intends to put in place a national and European law to “dismantle GAFAM”
Nicholas Dupont Aignan is a great advocate of digital sovereignty. He no longer wanted to rely on the United States and Gavam. This could include “taking back control of digital multinationals by ordering data hosting from French users in France”, but also by creating “a truly sovereign French cloud and digital space for the French citizen (ENCF). The Debout la France candidate also wants to reduce Taxes on innovative companies. For public oversight, he wants to put a “review in the form of a constitutional law that guarantees the prohibition of tracking on French soil without free, informed and registered consent.” Regarding Internet browsing, the MP wants to develop a “Francophone Google” dedicated to all countries that speak the language French and do the same for social networks, inspired by the Chinese model, which moved away from Gavam. Dupont-Aignan also calls for digital training from college, with courses in programming, virtual reality and 3D design. For job seekers, he wants to ramp up training in digital professions within Pôle emploi and in continuing professional training, providing training in information technology and entrepreneurship.
*The other five candidates not mentioned in this article were not present in the digital arena. They do not address or very little subject matter in their program.
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