War in the Middle East: the Minister of Industry fears “serious problems” if the conflict lasts for months

Asked this Monday about the consequences of the war in the Middle East in France, French Minister of Industry Sébastien Martin said he feared tensions on French industry. “A lot will depend on how much longer this conflict lasts. Today, I even think that President Trump does not really know where he is going in this matter,” the minister explained on BFM Business.

“The supplies had been made, but it is certain that for future orders, if all this has to last until the summer (…) it should pose serious problems”, fears the minister, adding that already, “certain sectors are starting to have some difficulties”.

“We follow this on a daily basis from Bercy”, continues Sébastien Martin, indicating that he has brought together “all the sectors recently, my office and the teams see each other absolutely every day”.

“Getting out of a certain number of addictions”

The ongoing war in the Middle East has driven up oil prices and led to supply problems in several parts of the world. Faced with this situation, the French Minister of Industry believes “that we must continue to try to escape from a certain number of dependencies”. “Crisis after crisis, even if things improve, even if sources of supply diversify (…) we must continue to do it,” he insisted.

Sébastien Martin indicates that a working group has been set up, particularly with the Netherlands. “We have to get out of these dependencies. We must choose Europe and European preference,” he assures.

The war in the Middle East and its impact on energy prices are yet another pitfall for the French desire to reindustrialize. “The number of factory openings is stable compared to 2024, but the slowdown trend continues markedly,” according to the industrial barometer published Sunday by the Ministry of the Economy.