Versailles (AFP)
On the 47th day of the pension conflict, Emmanuel Macron welcomed on Monday "the good news" of four billion euros of investments announced on the occasion of the third edition of "Choose France", which brings together at the Palace of Versailles the government and 200 bosses from around the world.
"The good news, it does not come by itself. It comes because we are making reforms," said the head of state in the morning while visiting the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical factory in Dunkirk, which will grow via an investment of more than 200 million euros. Mr. Macron then went to Versailles where he arrived around 3:30 p.m.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe previously welcomed the signing of three agreements between the Chantiers de l'Atlantique and the Italian-Swiss shipowner MSC, including a firm order of two billion euros for two new ships to be delivered in 2025 and 2027, during a ceremony in the presence of the signatories.
"I don't mind being stuffed with bad news" but "it's not true", added Emmanuel Macron, stressing that France had created "a little over 500,000 jobs" since coming to power two and a half years ago.
Between 200 and 300 people demonstrated in calm at the end of the morning in Versailles, with slogans such as "Macron we come to pick you up at your house" or "Macron out", a year after an edition marked by the social movement of yellow vests ".
Over 400 bilateral meetings between employers and MM. Macron, Philippe and 19 members of the government are standing in Versailles, on the eve of the opening of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
Among the guests under the gold of the royal castle, bosses of large American groups (Coca-Cola, Snap Inc, Fedex, Google, Netflix ...), Asians (Hyundai Motors, Samsung Electronics, Fosun, Toyota ...), African (Cooper Pharma, Orascom) and European (Rolls Royce, EY, ING Bank ...).
Responding to criticism of the difficulties in opening new factories in France, the government announced this weekend the creation of 12 "turnkey" industrial sites, for which administrative procedures "have been anticipated in order to offer investor immediate or very short term availability ", according to a statement from the Ministry of Economy.
- sharp rise -
As early as Sunday evening, the Elysée had detailed the new investments. The construction in Saint-Nazaire of the two new cruise ships of 6,700 passengers by MSC will generate "14 million hours of work, corresponding to 2,400 jobs for three and a half years," the executive said.
Other announcements in the framework of "Choose France": the decision of Coca-Cola and its bottler to invest one billion euros over five years in France, half of which to strengthen the production and distribution network, and l other to "support the development of its current brands and introduce new products to the French market".
For Alain Dehaze, president of the Swiss group Adecco, the Choose France event "is very efficient and very productive", because "you have a combination of the corporate world and members of the French government".
"France, in recent years, has really progressed and has undertaken heavy reforms and we see that it is not easy," Mr. Dehaze told AFP. His group, the largest private employer in France with 130,000 temporary workers, will train 45,000 people this year, three times more than three years ago, he announced.
The American bank JP Morgan is going to relocate up to 450 jobs to Paris, an announcement which tells Le Maire that "we are succeeding in this gamble" of "becoming the first financial center in Europe" more to Brexit.
As in 2018, France is the second destination for foreign investors in Europe behind Germany and ahead of the United Kingdom. Between 2017 and 2019, its attractiveness increased from 22nd to 15th in the ranking published by the WEF, "the best progression of the top 20", according to the Elysée.
According to Matignon, foreign direct investment in French companies grew by more than five billion euros in 2018 (+ 20%) "and the year 2019 promises to break new records".
© 2020 AFP