Ahead of Brexit, Paris Tries a Business Makeover
A sign on the entrance door reads, in French, “On your mark, get ready, innovate!”
Since the lab opened in October, executives have been conferring with members of Parliament on drafting a new
and wide-ranging law to improve the business environment, expected to pass next year.
“You’ll accuse me of bashing the French,” he said over tea recently, “but earlier
this year, they announced that they would have regulators who speak English.
Within France, the legislative changes and Brexit efforts have their share of critics, many
of whom consider it further evidence that Mr. Macron is the “president of the rich.”
“The idea that companies won’t settle in France because of high taxes is a false argument,
that they tell us to pass policies that are difficult to justify in the eyes of the population,” said Alexandre Derigny a spokesman for the General Confederation of Labour, a group of trade unions.
During his campaign, he visited London, home to as many as 400,000 French expatriates, urging them to return to France
and “innovate.” And since his election, the government has started a highly aggressive campaign to poach jobs from London.
In February of this year, a delegation of French leaders in politics
and business met with more than 80 executives on the 37 floor of the Shard, a landmark building in London’s financial district.