“Choose France” wins billions of euros in international investments
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Health, plastics recycling, IT and sustainable transport are just some of the 21 new foreign investments in the “Choose France” program announced by the Elysée on Monday. The economic stimulus comes just three months before the country’s next presidential election.
All investments from Europe and the United States, totaling more than four billion euros, are part of the fifth edition of the “Choose France” program, created by President Emmanuel Macron in 2017.
Usually, CEOs of multinational companies are invited to the Palace of Versailles to discuss new investment projects, however, face-to-face meetings were canceled this year due to Covid-19.
Instead, Macron deployed a team of ministers to visit various investment sites.
The new projects will create “more than 10,000 jobs, and add more than 16,000 temporary permanent jobs” from the company Manpower, according to the presidential palace.
On Monday, Macron visits the site of German chemist BASF in Chalampé in the Haut-Rhin Oriental with Industry Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher, where BASF is injecting an additional 300 million euros into the plant.
The largest investment, 850 million euros, comes from the American Eastman, which specializes in plastic recycling. The project will employ 350 people, with the location of the plant to be announced.
The Swedish flatbed furniture giant Ikea has created an investment of 650 million euros over three years in projects “dedicated to the circular economy and sustainable transport”, according to the French presidency.
Tech companies are included in the mix as US global data center Equinix announced it would open its 10and Computer site in June this year in Saint-Denis, just north of the capital. The three-year project of 165 jobs should invest 750 million euros during this period.
Investments in the health sector account for a large part of the projects, with the American multinational Pfizer injecting 520 million euros into France by contracting the manufacturer Novasep to produce Covid-19 treatments and carry out research.
The British GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will place 118 million euros in three sites across France.
The Elysée has indicated that over the last four “Choose France” conferences, 55 of the 57 projects announced have been completed, totaling eight billion euros and 13,000 jobs.
She added that the public aid granted to obtain these investments is generally between 5% and 10% of their amount.