“For the Germans, the strikes in France are part of the folklore!” Foreign investors do not give in to panic in the face of the tensions caused by the pension reform.
The president of the Franco-German chamber of commerce and industry and former president of Bosch in France, Guy Maugis, recalls that France “is an eruptive country, with fevers every six months… and then things end up being fixed.” The same story on the side of the chambers of commerce and industry in France.
French foreign trade advisers also put the situation in perspective, and recall that the country, on the contrary, has gained in attractiveness despite the succession of social upheavals since 2018: the reform of the SNCF, the yellow vests and the first reform of Emmanuel Macron’s aborted pensions.
“If foreign investors were scalded by this type of crisis, they could have packed their bags a long time ago,” says Gilles Bonnenfant, president of Eurogroup Consulting, and of the commission for the attractiveness of France of business advisers outside France. The fact of wanting to reach the end of the pension reform, without a majority in the Assembly, and knowing the social risks that are being run, is, on the contrary, perceived as a very good sign by foreign investors.
Positive image of France
Despite the tensions and the images that can “awaken old demons” for Bijan Eghbal, president of Amcham, the American Chamber of Commerce in France, foreign investors have a positive reading of events. “And it would be the withdrawal of the reform that would send a very bad signal, explains Guy Maugis. There, one would say to oneself that reforms are no longer possible in France.” Foreign business leaders obviously want calm to return to the country as soon as possible, and the president of CCI France, Alain Di Crescenzo, warns about the impact of these moves on the activity of merchants, cafes and restaurants.
But beyond these tensions, the large foreign groups explain that their investment decisions “are not based on images or emotions, but on the long term and fundamentals.” And the American Chamber of Commerce in France considers them “very solid”, with a fiscal and pro-business policy and constant investment plans since 2017.
Finally, these large groups remember that they compare countries before investing, and the situation in France worries them much less than that of our neighbors and competitors in Europe: the energy crisis and the fragility of the political coalition in Germany, the recession and the succession . of Prime Ministers in Great Britain or even the permanent political instability in Italy. “We can deplore the situation in France, but it is worse elsewhere,” summarizes Amcham’s Bijan Eghbal.
Source: BFM TV
