But it is again faced with the horrors of deindustrialization

The Nord - Pas-de-Calais had valiantly continued the long March of his conversion. After the end of the coal, mutations in the steel and textile hemorrhage, which had resulted in the loss of 325 000 jobs in thirty-five years, the region had ascended the slope between tertiarization embodied in the Euralille business district in the capital of Flanders, the biomedical boom with Eurasanté or industrial revival symbolized by Toyota in Onnaing or Glaxo to Saint-Amand-les-Eaux. But it is again faced with the horrors of deindustrialization. Probable case of the Total refinery with its 800 employees direct and indirect, decline of industrial subcontracting activity, loss last year of 1,500 direct and 5,000 jobs positions of acting in the car, which the North is the French 2erégion, and historical decline of traffic of the port of Dunkirk in 2009 (22)...

The still highly industrial nature of the northern economy today has a heavy impact on the regional fabric. With 3 of unemployed more than the average national, a differential that it is unable to eliminate for years, the region also displays unsurprisingly very high ratios of beneficiaries of the RMI - RSA, or 2.7 of the total population, and a taxable per capita income the lowest France. And the youth unemployment here reached a record high, affecting more than one-quarter of less than 25 years. Nevertheless, the regional economy remains driven by solid foundations. The metropolis Lille, capital of distance selling and distribution, plays a powerful role of tertiary locomotive for the whole of the region with a dynamic which attest the last professional tax bases, in progression of 5.25 in 2009 and 4.4 in 2010. The attractiveness of the Nord - Pas-de-Calais is very strong, with its networks of communication and, in particular, high-speed rail, but with a workforce availability and recognized quality. The region is the first in France on foreign investment in accumulated since 1993.

Effort on the establishment of company

It mobilized very strongly for several years around entrepreneurship, a historically low point in a region long accustomed to the salary mass. And if the rate of 1,000 active companies is still largely below the average national, catch-up is spectacular, with a regional plan for the creation and proactive transmission of businesses since 2001. Under the auspices of the regional economic development scheme (SRDE), bringing together the actors in local development in an original governance, a large-scale innovation plan has committed to 240 million euros over three years. But the regional delay in terms of R & D and innovation is apparent, this plan and the rise in the regime of the 6 poles of competitiveness of the territory. Other ambitions displayed by SRDE, such as the increase of 50 of craft enterprises or the doubling of the exporters, or, recently, synergy main tools for financing of capital in the region through a "platform". France third in terms of export, the Nord - Pas-de-Calais must primarily to large companies and the automotive industry.

The challenge.

Daily thrombosis on the A1 between Lille and the mining ex-bassin has become a subject for which the region has already invested, including compressing the TER service. The Regional Council has set the objective of doubling the use of its rail network. The ambition is to create a sort of orange regional map with a single ticketing valid for the train, Metro, bus or tram.