A lunch between Emmanuel Macron and the heads of major international groups was held discreetly at the Elysée Palace. The meeting, which was very political, focused on the future of the French economy.
The meeting had been planned for a “long time”, but it came at just the right time. Emmanuel Macron invited around forty bosses from major French and international groups to share a meal at the beautiful table of the Elysée Palace, this Thursday, July 25. A meeting organized on the eve of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, a way to praise French successes to these economic players, but also in the midst of a political crisis… less attractive for investors.
Emmanuel Macron spoke with very influential leaders and the two richest men in the world: the Frenchman Bernard Arnault, CEO of the luxury chain LVMH, and the American Elon Musk, boss of Tesla, the aerospace company SpaceX and more recently the social network X (formerly Twitter).
The presidency has specified the lists of guests present at theAFPthere was a jumble of names: James Quincey who heads Coca-Cola, Brian Chesky who runs Airbnb, Shou Zi Chew who heads TikTok, Jaz-Yong Lee who runs Samsung, Neal Mohan for YouTube and Aditya and Lakshmi Mittal for ArcelorMittal. Among these names of big American, Chinese and Indian bosses, a few French people were also present, such as representatives from BPCE, Carrefour and the Accor group.
But what was going on between these people and the President of the Republic in the utmost discretion within the walls of the Elysée? No signing of contracts in sight, but the maintenance of commercial, industrial or simply trusting relations according to Emmanuel Macron’s entourage. The latter wanted to “reassure” foreign investors at a time when the country is going through an unprecedented political crisis. The dissolution of the National Assembly and the result of the legislative elections, marked by the defeat of the power in place and the rise of the left, could have worried France’s economic partners. Emmanuel Macron’s program is very different from the economic measures proposed by the left, which are more interested in the needs of employees than those of bosses.
And this fear is even public: this Thursday morning, on France Info, the president of Medef Patrick Martin pointed out the program of the left-wing alliance that claims to govern. “The minimum wage at 1,600 euros net could generate up to 200,000 job losses, entire sectors will collapse!”, he estimated, adding while speaking of this lunch: “The president must reassure!”
Emmanuel Macron therefore “explained the choices that were his” in particular that of the dissolution and invited his guests and partners “to continue to invest in France” said a presidential advisor to West France. The idea was to provide guarantees on the continuity of the policies initiated to investors, who were attracted and seduced by the French market during the annual Choose France summit held last May by organizing a “mini Choose France” in the setting of the presidential palace.
If the head of state wanted to brush the economic partners in the right direction, by specifying that the 56 projects announced at the Choose France summit have never been questioned by any group, he cannot say too much about the French political future. While a government is still awaited and no coalition seems to be taking shape, who can say what economic policy will be implemented in the coming months? No one, not even Emmanuel Macron.