Paris (AFP)

Emmanuel Macron promised Monday to a hundred foreign bosses that he would continue to "reform the country" despite the health crisis and to lead a "pro-business" policy, in particular by lowering taxes on companies.

"We will not slow down the reduction in corporate tax, which will be reduced to 25% next year. We will not give up on the abolition of the wealth tax. And we are reducing production taxes by 10 billion euros per year, which is unprecedented, ”he said in English, at the opening of a“ Choose France ”video meeting to promote French attractiveness.

"We have passed reforms, we are taking additional measures and we will continue to reform the country in order to make it more competitive," he added.

He also outlined the ambitions of the 100 billion euro recovery plan which should "prepare France for the next decade" and welcomed the plan adopted at European level.

"There remains a good investment dynamic (in France) despite the crisis", commented on Europe 1 the Minister of Foreign Trade Franck Riester, "the overall volume is down but much less than Great Britain or Germany ".

He cited an investment from the American laboratory Merck and a recent one from the Dutch bottler Refresco.

"Macron chooses the world before! That of a mad capitalism which has given 45 billion euros to large companies since 2017. Since then, some have relocated in the middle of Covid. And if, for once, we chose public services ? ", criticized the Insubordinate Eric Coquerel

Since 2017 Emmanuel Macron has been meeting in Versailles every year, just before the Davos Summit, around 200 international bosses to encourage them to invest in France.

This "Choose France" meeting will be postponed to this summer in Versailles if sanitary conditions allow it, said Franck Riester.

During the January 2020 edition, Emmanuel Macron welcomed the announcement of four billion euros in investments, linking them to the "reforms" undertaken since his election.

In addition, the Head of State organized a videoconference on Monday afternoon with the bosses of the major world laboratories including, in person, the CEO of Sanofi Paul Hudson, said the Elysee, while Merck has just announced the stopping the development of two anti-Covid vaccines, including the one developed with the Pasteur Institute.

On Tuesday, the head of state will again defend French attractiveness during a video interview with the president of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, as part of the Davos Agenda, which replaces the annual finance summit global.

For the Elysee, the recent government veto on a merger between the Canadian Couche-Tard and the French Carrefour should not "weigh on the attractiveness of France".

Among the hundred bosses participating in the videoconference were to include those of Nestlé, Ericsson, Snapchat, Ferrero or Solvay.

© 2021 AFP