Between abandoned coal mines and an engine plant scheduled for closure, a gleaming new factory hovers like a phoenix over Billy-Berclau, a small industrial town in northern France.
Inside, 700 newly hired workers are making next-generation electric vehicle batteries for the Automotive Cells Company — part of a grand project to revive the wider region’s flailing fortunes.
A “Battery Valley” is rising here from the remains of industries that shuttered during a wave of globalization.
“Industry is an anti-National Rally weapon, because in places where anger has risen, we’re restoring hope,” Roland Lescure, Mr. Macron’s deputy industry minister, said earlier this year.
Billy-Berclau, and nearly every other town in this region of Pas-de-Calais handed a resounding victory last week to National Rally in parliamentary elections — a trend that is likely to be repeated in a final voting round on Sunday.
Persons:
Berclau, Emmanuel Macron’s, ” Roland Lescure
Organizations:
Automotive Cells Company, “, Calais, Rally
Locations:
France, Pas