Macron declares business war on a post-eu Britain
In unprecedented speech in English, president woos global business chiefs while rats run riot in the capital
EMMANUEL MACRON made his latest bid yesterday to wrest business from a post-brexit Britain by calling on global business leaders to “Choose France” in a speech in English – an unprecedented move for a French president at home.
At a summit behind closed doors in Versailles, Mr Macron addressed 140 business leaders, including chiefs of Google, Goldman Sachs, Coca Cola, Chinese group Jd.com and Facebook while 15 members of his government, including Edouard Philippe, his prime minister, held “speed dating” business sessions with other foreign bosses.
Mr Macron’s stated aim is to sell France to investors as “the place to be” at a time when the French president has claimed the mantle of Europe’s leader while the UK is mired in Brexit negotiations and Chancellor Angela Merkel is bogged down with forming a coalition government in Germany.
However, the clarion call to global captains of industry at Louis XIV’S gilded palace came amid far less glam- orous reports that Paris is being invaded by rats in its upmarket districts.
Mr Macron, a former investment banker, is seeking to capitalise on newfound foreign business confidence in France in the wake of his surprise election last May. Since then, he has driven through labour reforms and cut wealth tax as well as pledged to cut corporate tax from 33.3 per cent to 25 per cent by the end of his five-year term.
The summit was timed to take advantage of the arrival of global business leaders in Europe for the Davos World Economic Forum, which opens today. Mr Macron will again break with tradition by delivering a speech there, partly in English. His charm offensive comes as France pursues an aggressive agenda to erode UK dominance in finance, including what the Financial Times dubbed a “raid” on Britain’s £8trillion asset management industry.
France is expected to unveil a package that it hopes will lure 10,000 banking and finance posts away from London by cutting payroll taxes for high earners moving to Paris.
So far Japanese car maker Toyota is to invest €300 million in the Yaris model, adding 800 jobs, Facebook is doubling its Paris staff and Europe’s biggest software company, SAP, is to invest €2 billion in French start-ups in cutting-edge technologies. Other investment deals are expected soon.
For all the grandstanding, however, not everything is rosy in France. With a €50 billion trade deficit, its share of global markets continues to slide. And Parisians were this week shocked to see videos of rats in upmarket districts along the Seine.
♦ Britain’s is heading for a Norwaystyle relationship with the EU during the post-brexit transition period. Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts, a member of the European Parliament’s Brexit steering group, said “no one” was disputing the deal on the UK’S negotiating team. He told The Independent website: “It has to be a Norwegian-style deal, it cannot be anything else and this has been agreed in principle.”
Norway is not a member of the EU but pays for access to the single market, and must accept freedom of movement as part of its deal.