In total, 13 billion euros have been raised, for battery projects, photovoltaic panels or even drugs.
By PM with AFP
© STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / POOL / AFP
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Batteries, photovoltaic panels, medicines: for the sixth edition of the high mass of foreign investment in France, called “Choose France”, Emmanuel Macron is preparing to announce on Monday a record harvest of projects for a total of 13 billion euros and to celebrate the attractiveness of the country.
“Over the years” this event “has become an unmissable event on the agenda of international investors”, according to the Elysée, which sees in it the materialization of the success of its policy to lower the cost of labor and reindustrialize the country, while accelerating the ecological transition. The executive will also highlight measures contained in the green industry bill which will be presented to the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, such as the acceleration of authorization procedures for the establishment of industrial sites or the preparation of 50 turnkey sites. pre-arranged.
READ ALSOInvestments from abroad: France is filling upThis year, out of some 400 guests received under the gold of the Palace of Versailles, 206 bosses of multinationals have confirmed that they will make the trip, half of whom will be taking part in this event for the first time.
“Our idea is to be able, thanks to Choose France, thanks to the appointments granted by the Head of State, by the ministers, to catalyze investment decisions. It is therefore important for us to be able to capture newcomers, ”explains those around the president. The foreign bosses present will be half European, 20% North American and 15% Asian, we detailed from the same source.
Panels made in France
Launched by Emmanuel Macron in 2018, “Choose France” was first designed as a stopover for big bosses on the way to Davos, the first three editions being held in January. This calendar was then shaken up by the Covid-19 crisis, with two meetings last year, the first of which was online due to the pandemic. They had made it possible to garner 10.8 billion in investment promises.
The biggest of the projects announced this year has already been unveiled by Emmanuel Macron on Friday during a trip to Dunkirk (northern France): 5.2 billion euros for a gigafactory of new generation batteries from the Taiwanese Prologium, with 3,000 jobs at stake. In the same city, the Chinese XTC will build with the French Orano a factory of components and recycling of batteries for 1.5 billion euros.
READ ALSOSetting up a factory in France, this administrative headacheAnother flagship project is the establishment in Sarreguemines (Moselle) of a photovoltaic panel production plant by Holosolis, an offshoot of the European group Innoenergy, for 710 million euros, representing 1,700 jobs. “For years, we have subsidized photovoltaic panels that were made at the end of the world, here we are going to have photovoltaic panels Made in France”, welcomed Sunday on franceinfo the Minister of Industry Roland Lescure.
Also in energy, the start-up Newcleo is announcing 3 billion investments over the period 2025-2030 to develop a small modular reactor of the SMR type.
Fewer jobs
Among other projects, the Swedish furniture giant Ikea announces 906 million euros of investment in France by 2026, including the creation of a logistics center near Toulouse (south of France).
In the pharmaceutical sector, Pfizer is injecting, like last year, an additional 500 million euros. The American explains in a press release that thanks to this new investment, he will “strengthen the capacities in terms of clinical trials in oncology and traditional research”.
For its part, the British GSK announces 240 million investments on three production sites in Evreux (north-west), Mayenne (west) and Saint-Amand-les-Eaux (north of France), and more than 150 million for R&D. In total, the 28 projects announced will create 8,000 jobs.
However, the investments presented in the context of “Choose France” only represent a small part of the foreign direct investments (FDI) made each year in France. According to the Business France agency, 1,725 projects with mainly foreign capital were established in the territory last year.
With a different methodology, the EY firm identified 1,259, also in 2022, making France the most attractive country in Europe for foreign investors in terms of the number of projects. The total amount of investments is calculated neither by Business France nor by EY. But the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad), whose latest published figures are for 2021, placed France far from the podium that year, in sixth place in Europe with 14 billion dollars in IDE.