It’s all about dosage. Versailles? The place would have sent the wrong signal. Not to mention a burning memory, that of Carlos Ghosn’s sumptuous birthday, in 2014, with which no one wants to be associated… Exit also the Opéra Garnier and its gilding. To represent the large French companies, gathered in a very select club which will celebrate its 40th anniversary on Tuesday, October 18, a place was needed above all suspicion. Above all, nothing that could give the impression of a riot of money. It will therefore be Beaubourg. The fifth floor, that of the exhibitions, offers a perfect setting. In the plate, same vigilance: the starred chefs solicited for the cocktails of the great French foundations have also been dismissed in favor of a renowned caterer, but less flashy.
The large French groups are rich, very rich even, but know that it is better to avoid showing it. Because the French Association of Private Enterprises – a prestigious coterie known by the acronym AFEP – which will receive All-Paris business that evening, is erected as a symbol of big capital. In fact, there is all the CAC 40, and even a little more : the large shareholder families, such as the Peugeots, the Mulliez, the Pinaults, the Decaux, the Wendels, are also members, through their holding companies. In all, a hundred or so groups that could be said to embody French capitalism.
For this anniversary, the first to be officially celebrated, several hundred guests are expected. All the big bosses, of course, but also Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, the tenants of Bercy, Bruno Le Maire and Gabriel Attal in the lead, as well as other members of the government, such as Olivier Dussopt (labour), Clément Beaune (transport) or Agnès Pannier-Runacher (energy transition). Were also invited former ministers of finance and quantity of directors of Bercy, former and current.
Some ministers are unaware that one does not ask to be invited to the AFEP. It is the AFEP which invites. Shade
Nothing says that the members of the government will come. However, their presence does not change much in the nature of the relationship they have with the organization. All of them have regular exchanges with her, rarely mentioned in their diary. Many of them have already gone to his dinners or his breakfasts where around sixty big bosses meet each month to discuss the state of the world. “The only place where we find such a concentration”, admits one of them. Some ministers, like Bruno Le Maire, even ask to be received there. They may not know that you don’t ask to be invited to AFEP. It is the AFEP which invites. Shade.
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