French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled on Thursday a €26 billion ($33 billion) stimulus plan to ward off recession and shore up automakers and construction.

The measures include around €1.3 billion to help carmakers avoid more layoffs as sales tumble. Sarkozy floated the possibility of increasing that aid if U.S. automakers succeed in tapping a skeptical Congress for rescue funding.

"I'm not excluding that the state does more," he said to a crowd of 2,000 supporters assembled near a Renault factory in Douai, in France's industrial north. "If our American friends do more for their own industry, I won't let the French automobile industry be disadvantaged compared to its competitors."

Most of the money in the two-year plan is destined for the construction industry, which will be helped by a €6.5 billion investment program. The government is also injecting €11.5 billion into the economy by front loading tax credits and rebates.

"In the current exceptional circumstances, we have a historic responsibility to improve France's facilities, infrastructure, universities and research," Sarkozy said.

The measures form part of a €200 billion package proposed by the European Commission to boost the European Union's economy through spending and tax cuts.

National governments are to provide €170 billion — 1.2 percent of the EU's GDP — according to EU commission plans. France's package represents 1.3 percent of its GDP.

The measures will push the deficit near 4 percent of gross domestic product in 2009, above the European Union's limit. But the rules have been relaxed to help countries cope with the crisis.

The French plan is designed to add 0.6 percentage points to economic growth in 2009. Combined with other measures already announced and the knock-on effects of increased welfare spending, the government is counting on a 1 point overall boost to economic growth.