As Spain lifted an evacuation order in a wildfire-hit region near Madrid, France was still battling one of its worst wildfires in decades on Wednesday, with businesses suffering mounting disruption.
The Bordeaux-Gironde Chamber of Commerce and Industry told Euronews that 40,000 businesses were directly or indirectly affected by the fire and associated evacuation orders. Patrick Seguin, president of the CCI Bordeaux-Gironde, estimated that they represented approximately 200,000 affected jobs.
“We are experiencing an unprecedented situation. A mini-Covid. An economic catastrophe for our businesses, already penalised by the current economic climate,” Patrick Seguin, president of the Bordeaux-Gironde Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Euronews Business.
Separately, the French Economy Ministry estimated that around 130,000 employees were unable to work because of the fires.
The chamber has established a crisis helpline for businesses, which is receiving a growing number of calls. Companies are primarily seeking help with cash-flow problems, deferred loan and tax payments, insurance claims, social-security contributions and placing employees on France’s partial-unemployment scheme.
