Mahmoud Kassem
Arabian Gulf investors are expected to beat a track to France after the euro zone’s second-biggest economy elected a pro-business president, the head of Business France, a promotion agency, said.
Some of these investors had been waiting on the sidelines, fearful that the right-wing anti-Europe candidate Marine Le Pen would win but have been encouraged by 39-year-old Emmanuel Macron’s victory, said Marc Cagnard, the managing director of Business France, a branch of the country’s economy ministry responsible for promoting France abroad.
“It’s a very positive thing that Emmanuel Macron was elected because if not it was Marine Le Pen, which would have meant a more insular France,” Mr Cagnard said.
“We know a lot of people were waiting to see what the outcome would be. I think if Le Pen won, many would have halted their investment plans.”
Mr Macron, who was elected on May 14, said France’s place was in the European Union “which protects us and enables us to project our values in the world” but that the 28-member bloc needed to be “reformed and relaunched”.
His opponents on the far-right, including Ms Le Pen, and far-left, who are both opposed to the EU and major economic reforms, won about 50 per cent of the first-round vote.
The president also suggested he would press on with his ambitious but controversial agenda to reform France’s rigid labour market and modernise the social security system despite the fierce resistance he is likely to meet.
Still, the labour-friendly laws of France as they stand are not enough to deter investors, including those from the Middle East.
About 380 Middle East companies operate in France, employing 24,000 people, according to Business France. Thirty-four per cent of Middle East investments into France last year came from the UAE, while Qatar and Lebanon accounted for 18 per cent each. Information technology took the lion’s share of the money that flowed into the country at 45 per cent while most of it went geographically to the Paris region.
While deep-pocketed investors in the region have been scaling back on financial investments amid low oil prices that began in mid-2014, there are increasing signs of more willingness to spend.
Of the investments made in France last year, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority is said to be acquiring Tour Alto, an office project in the Parisian business district La Defense through its wholly owned subsidiary Tamweelview European Holdings. Tour Alto is a 51,000 square metre office tower that will replace the Les Saisons Building.
“These funds will continue to invest,” said Mr Cagnard.
“Even though there is a slowdown in the UAE, there is still a lot of money to invest and I think France is a very good destination.”
mkassem@thenational.ae
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