The Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to spur business growth in France by tripling tax breaks for investors in small businesses and fostering cash injections to start-up firms.
The plan comes at a time of declining start-up activity in France. The government has said an average of 175,000 businesses are created in France each year, down from 200,000 at the end of the 1980s.
"France has lost its competitiveness and attractiveness as well as its capacity to create wealth," government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
The measures, which still require parliamentary approval, would cost between 350 million and 400 million euros (US$360-410 million) in 2003, said minister for small business Renaud Dutreil.
Dutreil said the proposal is "one of the most important efforts for economic development" in France.
