France in new push to shrink red tape burden

PARIS, April 24 (Reuters) - The French government will make a new push to slash red tape with a bill presented on Wednesday that aims to make everything from opening new factories to reading a payslip easier.

Red tape is a major gripe for French business leaders and the bill comes as the far right actively courts them ahead of European Parliament elections in June, in which polls show their party ahead of the government's party by a wide margin.

A 2023 Senate report estimated that France's administrative burden costs the euro zone's second-biggest economy 84 billion euros ($89.8 billion) a year, or 3% of output.

"Too much regulation runs the risk of leaving the European economy trailing behind China and the United States," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told a news conference to present the bill.

French companies currently have to navigate 400,000 specific norms and regulations detailed in 23,000 pages of official documents, which the Finance Ministry said leaves many business owners spending eight hours a week on paperwork.

The new bill would change that by phasing out by 2030 the 1,800 administrative forms that individual taxpayers and businesses face in France.

Various different administrative websites companies regularly deal with for everything from taxes to payroll charges and subsidies will be put on a single unified site.

The wide-ranging bill will also see tenders for France's 235,000 annual public procurement contracts, worth 160 billion euros annually, managed over a single platform by 2028.

Meanwhile, the period of time third parties can raise objections to new industrial projects on environmental grounds will be halved to two months.

The most visible change for individuals under the bill will be a drastic reduction in the number of lines on payslips, which can currently include up to 55 payroll charges or bonuses.

($1 = 0.9356 euros) (Reporting by Leigh Thomas Editing by Alexandra Hudson)