"Ambition France Transports": from Marseille, François Bayrou launches the infrastructure financing conference

"Take the time to consider whether existing projects are necessary and identify levers for financing them in a sustainable, credible, and lasting manner." François Bayrou launched the infrastructure financing conference, which began Monday, May 5, in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), without any concrete announcement. Entitled Ambition France transports, its conclusions are expected before the end of July.

"Due to decades of underinvestment, our networks are aging. The average age of overhead lines is 40 years. At least 50% of the pavements on our million kilometers of roads are degraded, as are 34% of our bridges," laments the Prime Minister. "These figures increased by 4% to 5% between 2018 and 2022. An aging network is a degrading network."

More than 30 government experts, along with representatives from the regions, employers, user associations, and transport stakeholders, will work to define priorities and funding sources for mobility, under the leadership of former Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau. They will be divided into four thematic workshops: the economic model of mobility organizing authorities and the Metropolitan Regional Express Service (SERM), financing road infrastructure, passenger rail service and modal shift, and freight transport . A study day is scheduled at the Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESE) on May 20, with civil society and unions.

"The anger of the yellow vests also stems from the inequality of access to affordable mobility. One in three French people has already turned down a job due to a lack of mobility. And companies are forced to reject candidates based on the length or reliability of their commute," the Prime Minister claims.

To address this, the executive is banking in particular on the development of SERMs, announced in 2022 by the Head of State, while 26 projects have been certified. A Senate report in November 2025 estimated the investment costs required for SERMs at between €20 and €30 billion, including €9 billion for the Lille Railway Star project alone. This is also a pollution control issue, given that transport is responsible for 30% of greenhouse gases, 95% of which come from the road sector alone.

Faced with these emergencies, the executive will have to solve the following equation: find sources of financing to support the essential investments to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050, while assuming a reduction in public spending of 40 billion in 2026. "The danger of abandoning the project is obviously present. But we must push for all the requirements in terms of infrastructure, because they are inseparable from the transport methods of tomorrow. France is already significantly behind," warns Jean-Luc Gibelin .

The PCF vice-president of Occitanie, who will represent the Regions of France at the railway workshop, hopes to produce a multi-year infrastructure financing law. In this context, what about the 100 billion plan for rail, announced by former Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne in 2023 and whose allocations are still awaited? "The objective of this conference is precisely to examine the adequacy of these commitments with the available resources," a government source warned L'Humanité. The only confirmed project: the regeneration of the Marseille-Briançon line, essential for the successful hosting of the 2030 Winter Olympics.

The only credible avenue addressed by the Prime Minister is the future of motorway concessions. The €4.1 billion in dividends they paid out in 2023 appear to be targeted by the government, as operating contracts expire between 2031 and 2036. "The end of these concessions offers an unprecedented opportunity to redirect revenues toward transport projects," François Bayrou maintained.

"This money must return to the public sector to develop low-carbon mobility, while there is a shortage of €1 billion per year to regenerate the existing rail network," says Antonin Mazel, a rail expert at 3 E Consultants. The cumulative net profit, after amortizing purchasing, maintenance and investment costs, of the concession companies is approaching €50 billion between 2006 and 2024.