At the head of “the most attractive country in Europe”, Emmanuel Macron congratulated himself, during the last Choose France summit, on having broken new records. Under the gold of Versailles, medals of the same metal jingled: 56 industrial or technological investment projects announced, 15 billion euros expected, 10,000 associated jobs. The fruit of a tax and energy policy, in particular, which would attract large international companies, when making their choice to establish a low-carbon fertilizer factory (FertigHy), electric planes (Lilium) or a data center (Microsoft and Amazon).
On March 7, the economist Jean-Marc Daniel signed a text in our columns that goes against the prevailing satisfaction, which met with a strong response. Questioned by L’Express during Choose France, he does not budge. “Failing to sell enough, France sells itself to others,” he worried after the announcement of colossal investments by Qatar in the French economy – 10 billion euros by 2030, a Versailles before the hour, minus the Hall of Mirrors.
“What France suffers from is not too low an attractiveness, pointed out the president of the Society of Political Economy. It suffers from excessive demand which, not finding a sufficient national supply, is concerns imports. As a result, France accumulates external deficits, the consequence of which is a transfer of financial resources to its suppliers, and more generally to the rest of the world. As it cannot sell enough to cover the cost of its imports. , it sells itself, its commercial partners using the proceeds of their sales made on its territory to buy its assets.”
An analysis corroborated by the spectacular increase in an indicator, net foreign assets, in other words the difference between the value of what the French hold abroad and that of what foreigners hold in France. From -40 billion euros in 2001, this figure plummeted to -630 billion in 2022.
Conclusion of Jean-Marc Daniel: our leaders “must concentrate their policy not on the call for foreign capital but on more rigor in the management of public finances whose deficit artificially maintains demand and absorbs savings which are lacking in investment productive.” The plea did not cross the high gates of the Place d’Armes, any more than those of the Elysée.