Gabriel Attal welcomed France’s “rediscovered attractiveness” on Monday, May 13 at the Paris headquarters of the American bank Morgan Stanley, just before the opening in Versailles of the “Choose France” summit intended to promote foreign investments in the country.
Alongside Ted Pick, the CEO of the American bank which has expanded its activities in France, the head of government pointed out “several symbols”, including that of “confidence”, “confidence in the European Union, confidence in our country” and that of “attractiveness, the attractiveness rediscovered since 2017 by our country”.
New European campus in Paris
Morgan Stanley, which grew from 150 to 400 employees in France in three years, is to welcome a new European campus in Paris and thus create 100 additional jobs. “Paris has truly become a winning center of Europe,” praised Ted Pick.
“The reality is that we are reaping the fruits of Brexit”, i.e. the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union, argued Gabriel Attal, recalling having reduced business taxes by 3 billion euros and initiated a simplification of standards. France “is this country where it is good to undertake, good to invest, good to create,” he praised.
Gabriel Attal also promised to support a bill from Renaissance MP Alexandre Holroyd, which would notably allow listed companies to issue shares with “multiple voting rights” and would simplify capital raising procedures.
15 billion euros in investment announcements
The Prime Minister must then go to the “Choose France” summit, which brings together some 180 foreign bosses in Versailles, to chair a lunch at its opening, a first, in which the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, the former Minister of Finance Thierry, will participate. Breton. The government expects from this 7th edition of Choose France more than 15 billion euros of investment announcements, a “record” illustrating the reindustrialization in progress, according to it.
After visiting two companies emblematic of these investments, President Emmanuel Macron will in turn arrive at Versailles where he will chair two round tables, before bilateral talks and a question-and-answer session with all the bosses. The day will end with a dinner in the prestigious Hall of Mirrors.
In recent years, the government has made France’s attractiveness a priority, against the backdrop of the desire to reindustrialize the country in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, and to attract financial companies after Brexit, through reforms linked to the labor market and taxation.