Usually, at this time, Emmanuel Macron organizes a meeting to encourage the big foreign bosses to come and set up their factory in France. He plays the representatives, the VRP, reserving them the best reception, under the golds of the Republic, in Versailles.
This year, because of the Covid-19, no face-to-face meetings possible. But three months before the presidential election, and while reindustrialization is an important theme of the campaign, Emmanuel Macron does not want to ignore the twenty or so projects that foreign companies plan to do this year in France. . Especially since according to the Élysée, these projects represent four billion euros of investment, and should make it possible to create more than 10,000 jobs as well as 16,000 temporary positions.
The three largest expansion projects are in the plastics industry, whether production or recycling plants. In the field of health, too, the American Pfizer plans to set up one of its subcontractors in France for the production of treatment against Covid-19. There should also be aeronautical sites or brands better known to the general public such as Ikea, the Swedish furniture giant, which will strengthen its expansion in France. The same for the Italian Ferrero, specialized in chocolate, which will further establish its presence in Normandy.
The government is highlighting its record. According to him, under his five-year term, a total of fifty projects have emerged, representing 12 billion euros of foreign investment, and nearly 25,000 jobs created over the five-year term. Emmanuel Macron insists above all on the fact that the view of foreign investors on France has changed. Thanks in particular to the reforms carried out for companies: simplification of the Labor Code, reduction of corporate taxes from 33% to 25%, reduction of production taxes by 10 billion euros per year, etc.
The fact remains that for the opponents of the Head of State, these advantages are very expensive gifts made to multinationals which do not need them…. And then behind these industrial projects, there are also fears about chemical pollution, not always ecological.