Thematic file 11/19
ECONOMY, TRADE AND MOBILITY
This text is part of the thematic dossiers of the 2nd edition of Levrig by Yes Breizh.
Produce, connect, balance
Levrig 2027
Trajectory 2027-2032
NB: «For the sake of fluidity and concision, In this text, the masculine is used to encompass all genders.».
The essentials
Brittany lacks neither entrepreneurs nor know-how, nor ports, nor research poles. It suffers more from fragmented governance, unequal accessibility, economic decisions made outside Brittany, and a persistent gap between metropolises, the coast, the Centre-Bretagne region, and the western tip of the country.
Our goal — Transforming Brittany into a productive, maritime, innovative and decarbonized economy, where mobility connects the life basins, secures the logistical chains, and allows each Brittany country to participate in the common prosperity.
| A few landmarks | Value | Lecture |
|---|---|---|
| Regional transport budget 2026 | nearly 550 M€ | Major effort, but dedicated resource VMRR1 limited to about 5 % |
| Voyages BreizhGo | more than 60 million/year | Structuring network for people and departments |
| TER — regularity / satisfaction | 96 % / 95 % | A performing foundation to consolidate despite saturation |
| TER passenger numbers since 2019 | +60 % | The demand justifies a jump in supply and capacity |
| Interurban cars | more than 100 lines; 6.2 million trips in 2024 | Essential networking, especially outside the metropolises |
| Targeted decarbonized cars | 60 % in 2030 for DSPs2 Renewed cited | The transition is underway, but the scope needs to be generalized |
These data mainly concern the administrative region. The future management will have to publish homogeneous series for the Côtes-d’Armor, the Finistère, the Ille-et-Vilaine, the Loire-Atlantique and the Morbihan.
1. A Breton economy with strengths, but not fully organized
Real forces
For Yes Breizh, agriculture and agro-food, maritime transport, telecommunications and cybersecurity, health, tourism, industry, energy and cultural activities give Brittany a diversified base. Rennes, Nantes–Saint-Nazaire, Brest, Lorient, Lannion, Quimper, Vannes and Saint-Brieuc form complementary poles, but too often administered in separate frameworks.
Four vulnerabilities to be addressed, according to Yes breizh
- The dependence on external decision-making centers and the difficulty in growing companies whose headquarters remain in Brittany.
- Unbalanced distribution of productivity and innovation to SMEs, the rural economy and small towns.
- The vulnerability of sectors to energy costs, trade tensions, aging populations, and ecological and digital transitions.
- An accessibility that penalizes the Western part of Brittany, the rural territories, the islands and certain employment areas.
A doctrine: a market economy oriented towards common prosperity
For Yes Breizh, the public authorities must not replace businesses. They must set a goal, guarantee infrastructure, simplify processes, train skills, support innovation and correct territorial imbalances. Aid must be conditional on measurable results: quality employment, investment, decision-making authority, decarbonization, training and local benefits.
To have visibility, companies must be able to rely on clear, non-political public policies.
2. Five engines of development
| Engine | Priority 2027-2032 | Instrument |
|---|---|---|
| Companies based in Brittany | Creating, transmitting and growing seats and decision-making centers | Growth window, equity, public procurement and export support |
| Clusters and sectors | Connecting SMEs, research, training and clients | Sectoral contracts in maritime, cyber, health, agro, energy and creative industries |
| Productive innovation | Transforming research into products, processes and jobs | Joint laboratories, demonstrators, technology transfer and innovation procurement |
| Just transition | Decarbonizing without deindustrializing | Transition Fund, diagnostics, training and territorial contracts |
| Internationalization | Using the Breton and Celtic networks as entry points | Houses of Brittany, mutualized exports, European partnerships |
A Breton Observatory of Development
Yes Breizh wants the creation of an Observatory 3 The task is to identify high-potential companies and offer them coordinated support in accessing financing, recruitment, and international markets. This Observatory should include industrial, cooperative, maritime, and mid-sized companies, not just technology start-ups.
The wealth produced must remain more in Brittany
It would be wise to apply in Brittany the same approach as in Scotland regarding the use of public procurement, land, savings and large employers to strengthen local businesses and create jobs. Admittedly, it is not a matter of closing the markets, but of legally integrating the cost of the life cycle, the carbon footprint, social quality, housing and SME access to public procurement tenders in Brittany. This is possible as long as European directives on public procurement are considered more as tools than as constraints.
3. Commerce: turning city centers and towns into social infrastructure
Commerce is not just a trade exchange. It structures urbanism, daily autonomy, and sociability. Yes Breizh distinguishes between local commerce, large-scale distribution, and online commerce; however, this should not exempt us from the rules of competition law, freedom of establishment, and existing competences.
Yes Breizh proposes a pact for local commerce
- Create a Bretagne-5 observatory tasked with collecting the successful experiences of revitalizing city centers and villages to offer them to others; characterize commercial holidays, rental levels, flows, and urbanization.
- Condition the extension of peripheral services on an impact study on the centralities, mobility and the ground.
- Deploy commercial land and progressive leases to put vacant cells back into use.
- Support the halls, covered markets, multi-service shops, and mutualized logistics in the towns.
- Helping independent retailers to combine physical stores, online sales, delivery and repairs.
- Link economic assistance, community housing, public spaces, and public transportation services.
- Consider parking spaces that can be reimbursed for purchases made in the city center while offering discounts to customers who use public transportation.
More fair competition
The major digital and commercial players must contribute to infrastructure and especially to Brittany as a whole, from which they derive a part of their activity. Yes Breizh wishes to defend, within the French and European frameworks, a more neutral taxation between sales channels, the transparency of marketplaces, and the fight against unfair practices. If it is absolutely necessary to implement coercive sectoral measures, they will only be adopted after legal and economic assessments. More positively, labels can be awarded.
4. Mobility as an economic policy
A unique network across the five departments
Bre Bretagne Mobilités, established in 2025 around ten mobility hubs, constitutes a point of support. For Yes breizh, this network must evolve towards a Brittany-5 coordination authority that brings together the Loire-Atlantique, the metropolises, the Départements, the intercommunalities, the ports and operators. Its role must be strengthened: to plan the offers, organize connections, share data and implement a common ticketing system.
Trains and buses: increase capacity before saturation
The current performance of the TER and the increase in passenger numbers call for new equipment, reliable infrastructure and punctual services. The reinforcements planned in Brittany Sud and then on the Nord axis starting in September 2027 must be linked to the future SERM.4 Breton, with express trains and small useful lines.
For Yes Breizh, a relationship is maintained or created neither by nostalgia nor by dogma: it must be evaluated based on the need, the total cost, the alternative, and its local and climatic effects. For this, the relationship with the municipalities is essential.
Simple and solidarity-based pricing
Yes Breizh believes that pricing transport is crucial to enable everyone to live well and work in Brittany. Thus, Yes Breizh favors a monthly spending cap, automatic social rates, and an attractive offer for young people, rather than a general, unfunded free service. A compatible travel account and ticketing system must be able to cover trains, buses, boats, bicycles, and urban networks.
Unclogging the West of Brittany without imposing fashions
The Finistère region needs reliable rail services, connections to Rennes, Nantes and the major hubs, and professional solutions when rail fails to meet the needs. The airports of Brest and Rennes, as well as Nantes–Atlantique, must be coordinated according to the functions provided, their rail alternatives, their carbon footprint and their economic utility. The goal of Yes Breizh is not to subsidize any line, but to ensure strategic accessibility.
5. Brittany, maritime and logistics
A port system, not scattered competition
Brest, Lorient, Roscoff, Saint-Malo, Concarneau and Nantes–Saint-Nazaire have distinct functions: industry, repair, marine energy, fishing, bulk cargo, containers, folding doors and passengers. A Yes Breizh strategy for Brittany-5 must coordinate investments, dredging, rail access, port digitalization and commercial prospecting, rather than promising indistinctly a role of a major port for each site.
Rebalancing freight
The 2025 regional roadmap on goods and freight and the study on rail freight governance provide a recent basis. The priorities (for now) supported by Yes Breizh are intermodality, multimodal terminals, massification, agri-food and port flows, as well as last-mile logistics. Road transport will remain indispensable: its decarbonization, working conditions and optimizing empty returns are part of the strategy.
| Corridor | Function to strengthen | Preliminary decision |
|---|---|---|
| Brest–Quimper–Lorient–Vannes–Nantes | Southern economic and railway arc | Capacity, scheduling, freight and intermodality |
| Brest–Morlaix–Saint-Brieuc–Rennes | North Arc and National Access | Renfort 2027, robustness and correspondence |
| Rennes–Nantes–Saint-Nazaire | Economic column Bretagne-5 | Common governance and enhanced rail service |
| Centre-Bretagne | Territorial cohesion | Express cars, RN164, carpooling, freight and on-demand services |
| Ports–hinterlands | Maritime competitiveness | Rail access, platforms and digital channel |
6. Governance and resources
An identifiable leader
Brittany must have the capacity to coordinate economic development, training, trade, ports, regional rail, infrastructure routes, and planning for the allocated funds. The communes and intercommunalities retain their local authority; the State and the European Union guarantee common standards and major networks.
Three tools proposed by Yes Breizh
- A Breton development and investment agency, merging the existing offices without creating an additional layer.
- An Economic Council Bretagne-5 bringing together businesses, trade unions, research, local authorities and environmental stakeholders.
- A pluriannual contract between France, Brittany and the European Union for infrastructure, competences and transition.
Financing without promising the impossible
The VMRR expected in 2026, approximately 28 M€, represents only about 5 % of the regional transport expenditures. The leap in supply therefore requires a sustainable basket: payment for mobility, tariff revenues, contributions from organizing authorities, European funds, national contracting, and controlled capture of a portion of the value created around the stations. Each major project must publish, in relation to specific objectives, the total cost, financing, carbon avoided, usage, and risks, as well as performance indicators.
7. Fifteen commitments5
1. Publish an economic table every year for Brittany-5, with comparable departmental series.
2. Create a growth window for SMEs, small and medium-sized enterprises, cooperatives and companies with high potential.
3. Sign contracts that link research, training, production and exports.
4. Orient public procurement towards local, social and environmental value, in compliance with the law.
5. Establishing a trade and centrality pact with vacancy and artificialization targets.
6. Deploying warehouses, multi-service shops, and shared logistics in fragile basins.
7. Extend Bretagne Mobilités to effective governance of the five departments.
8. Build truly integrated ticketing and passenger information systems.
9. Implement a monthly tariff ceiling and automatic social discounts.
10. Strengthen the TER, express buses, bicycles, and on-demand transport according to the needs of the living areas.
11. Develop a specific accessibility plan for the Brittany coast.
12. Coordinate the ports of Brittany in a unique maritime and industrial strategy.
13. Doubling the effort on rail freight and multimodal terminals along a quantified trajectory.
14. Conditioning aid to results: jobs, skills, integration, innovation and decarbonization.
15. Evaluate and revise the measures that do not achieve their objectives.
8. Calendar 2027-2032
| Period | Economy and trade | Mobility and logistics | Jalon |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 — Measuring | Observatoire Bretagne-5; mapping of channels, seats, trade and skills | diagnostic of flows; integration of the Loire-Atlantique region; port, freight and Brittany-based service schemes | Reference table and established governance |
| 2028 — Organizing | Growth window; sectorial contracts; first pacts for centrality | Interoperable ticketing; social pricing; SERM plan and cars express | Contracts, budgets and adopted targets |
| 2029 — Invest | Growth-transmission funds; territorial purchases; commercial land | First multimodal nodes; equipment; freight terminals and port access | Audited and funded project portfolio |
| 2030 — Deploy | Expanded clusters; internationalization; transition of SMEs | Increased capacity; 60 % carbon-neutral cars deployed throughout the area; bicycles at stations | Public interim report and corrections |
| 2031 — Accelerate | Growth of established companies; reconquest of fragile centers of power | Squeeze on SERM offers; Bretagne-5 corridors; low-carbon logistics | Independent socio-economic assessment |
| 2032 — Consolidation | Review of subsidies and contracts; 2035 objectives | Conditional generalization; new PPI 2033-2038 | Final report and review clause |
Progress is conditional: no infrastructure or economic aid passes to the next stage without demonstrated need, sustainable funding, and a responsible study identified.6
9. Monitoring dashboard
| Indicator | Reference/target 2032 | Frequency | Pilot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Private salaried employment | Progress by basin; territorial disparities reduced | Quarterly | Economic Observatory |
| Creation and survival of companies | 3- and 5-year rates rise | Annually | Development Agency |
| Companies with a Breton decision-making center | Number and jobs on the rise | Annually | Agency / CCI |
| R&D expenditures and partnerships | Progress and diffusion towards SMEs | Annually | Brittany / research |
| Results with published help | 100 % in 2030 | Annually | Assembly |
| Business vacation | Decrease in targeted centralities | Semiannual | EPCI / Observatory |
| Net commercial artificialization | Compatible with the ZAN and the reconquest of the ruins | Annually | Planning Authority |
| Share of purchases accessible to SMEs | Progression, with constant right | Annually | Public buyers |
| Travel by public transport | Increase per capita and per basin | Quarterly | Bretaine Mobilités |
| Regularity / satisfaction TER | At least 95 % / 90 % | Monthly / annual | Operator/Authority |
| Access to a structuring stop | Share of population less than 15 min increased | Annually | Bretaine Mobilités |
| Monthly spending by users | Lower ceiling and median effort | Annually | Organizing authorities |
| Share of decarbonized fleet | Tracked mode published | Annually | Operators |
| Rail and port freight | Tons and modal share on the rise | Quarterly | Ports / freight |
| Time Brest–Rennes / Brest–Nantes | Improved reliability and door-to-door delivery time | Quarterly | Bretaine Mobilités |
| Mobility emissions | Lowering the trajectory compatible with the climate trajectory | Annually | Climate Observatory |
10. Risks and responses
| Risk | Response |
|---|---|
| Catalogue of projects not funded | Prioritization, full costs, phasing, and abandonment thresholds |
| Rennes–Nantes concentration | Reservoir contracts, accessibility from the West and indicators of discrepancies |
| Aid captured without anchoring | Conditions, refunds, transparency and follow-up of decision-making centers |
| Greenwashing | Life-cycle carbon footprint and verifiable indicators |
| New bureaucracy | Single point of contact, single leader and enforceable deadlines |
| Rural/Metropolitan Opposition | SERM Breton, express trains, on-demand transport and per-capita funding |
| Overdimensioned infrastructures | Scenarios, attendance, alternatives and independent review |
| Legal fragility of local preferences | Social, environmental and access criteria for SMEs in compliance with the law |
Conclusion — Prosperity through connections
For Yes breizh, an autonomous Breton economy is not about attracting capital or multiplying infrastructure. It must allow companies to grow, businesses to thrive, employees to access jobs, and goods to move around with less dependence and emissions.
The proposed contract is as follows: closer economic choices, better coordinated networks, conditional aid, and public results.
Brittany, divided into five departments, must become the platform for linking production, training, commerce, ports, rail, roads, the digital sector and the transition.
Mobilized resources and precautions
- Brittany Region, 2026 initial budget, Mission 7 — Mobility.
- Breizh Europa, Internal trade in Brittany, archive 2019.
- Breizh Europa, Transports — an overview and proposals, archive 2019.
- Documents submitted: Economy; PB Economy; Transport.
- Scottish National Party, Holyrood Election Manifesto 2026, used as a comparison of growth policies, territorial anchoring and pricing of mobility.
General precautions: the latest data from the Region form the quantitative basis. Older or more activist texts are used as sources of ideas, not as evidence. The targets will need to be supplemented by Brittany-5 data, impact studies, legal expertise, and figures.
Notes and clarifications
1. As of January 1st 2026, the Brittany Region has introduced the Regional and Rural Mobility Payment (VMRR), a resource intended to strengthen the transport offer across the four Breton departments. As the organizing authority for regional mobility, the Region must therefore finance the development of the BreizhGo TER and bus networks, modernize infrastructure, implement the Regional Bike Plan, and improve access to mobility solutions in rural and sparsely populated areas. The Regional and Rural Mobility Payment applies to all employers, public and private, with at least 11 employees, whose establishments are located in Brittany. This is a new payroll tax. For an employee paid 2,000 euros gross per month, the cost for the employer is estimated at between €1.60 and €3.00 per month depending on the Brittany regions. The effectiveness of this new tax measure is not specifically planned by the Region. ↩
2. Public service delegations ↩
3. Any creation of an observatory or agency etc. will have to be linked to the disappearance of at least one other equivalent public entity with the full reinstatement of the staff. Adjustments may be made subsequently. ↩
4. Regional Metropolitan Express Service ↩
5. With assigned business or project managers and responsible persons for each engagement, and performance indicators. ↩
6. No transformation is generalized without a budget, a roadmap, revenue and evaluation. No objective is imposed without a budget, a timeline, support, and accessible technical solution. No transfer takes place without resources. In the event of failure, the system is corrected rather than maintained to meet a deadline. A code green, orange, red It will indicate the trajectory, but will never replace the figures and their explanation. A temporary increase in an indicator may correspond to a transition or to a better census: each evolution will be interpreted before a decision is made.
↩
The thematic dossiers of Levrig 2027 by Yes Breizh
• 1. Statute, institutions, devolution and Constitution
• 2. Public finances, budget and fiscal autonomy
• 2 bis. Budgetary analysis France – Brittany 5
• 3. The public service in Brittany
• 4. Health in Brittany
• 5. Disability in Brittany
• 6. Education, training and higher education
• 7. Culture, languages and media
• 8. Breton identity, transmission and cohesion
• 9. Housing in Brittany
• 10. Employment, businesses and economic development
• 11. Economy, trade and mobility
• 12. Agriculture and food
• 13. Sea, coast and fishing
• 14. Energy, climate and the ecological transition
• 15. Digitalization and sovereignty
• 16. Security, justice and defense
• 17. Europe and internationally
• 18. Breton Diaspora and international outreach
