By akademiotoelektronik, 17/08/2022

In Davos, Macron offers a "new global contract"

A speech of a good hour, in plenary session in front of a packed and largely acquired room, alternating French, English, French, English, to address all audiences of this exceptional platform thatA head of state The Davos Economic Forum.Accustomed to the places, but for the first time in the position of "boss" of Maison France, Emmanuel Macron was welcomed as a rock star, and also a little like one of the few to have the leadership likely to make the weightFaced with the American president, who will intervene Friday afternoon.

The Savior of the Free World

The French president began his speech with a remark on the snow that fell in abundance in Davos this year, as a nod to the reality of climate change: "You did not invite a climato-skeptic to this forum?", He launched ironic to Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum which welcomed him by presenting almost as the Savior of the Free World, of the world of Davos in any case, who defends globalization and free trade."You are the symbol of the politics we need to guide us in the new world": it is a declaration of love that Klaus Schwab gave him, before an audience of leaders with the King of Spain at the forefront, but also an important French delegation, by Christine Lagarde, Director General of the IMF to Isabelle Kocher, Director General of Engie, via Patrick Pouyanné (Total), Maurice Lévy (Publicis), Bernard Charlès (Dassault Systèmes) or his ex-mentor Jacques Attali.

"France is back"

Invited to offer his vision and solutions for "a fractured world", the general theme of this 48th edition of the forum, Emmanuel Macron was clear about his intentions: "I came to launch a call for action," said the presidentFrench in a discourse articulated in three parts, France, Europe, the world.Emmanuel Macron began by defending his internal action.Two days after receiving 140 CEO of multinationals in Versailles for the "Choose France" summit during which 3.5 billion euros in foreign investments were announced, he wanted to close this attractiveness sequence by making the pedagogy of the reforms that'He has started since his arrival.An after-sales service intended to defend a conquering France ("France is back"), even if there is still a long way to go.

The five pillars of the policy he leads are in order: human capital and innovation;investment and capital;The flexibility of the labor market and the reforms of the key sectors such as energy, housing and transport;Make France a model country of the fight against climate change; and finally, its favorite, the "cultural" transformation of the country.Fight against bureaucracy, simplifications, fiscal stability for five years and above all the right to error: "The image of the country is that it is both forbidden to fail and prohibit from succeeding", and C 'is it what he wants to change because "France is a nation of entrepreneurs," he said.

A Europe Power

Beyond this seduction operation, where he spoke in English, Emmanuel Macron then articulated his remarks on the need to reform Europe.Beyond the 2018 calendar on the four current files (Europe of Energy, Defense, Digital and Immigration), Emmanuel Macron wants a "ten-year strategy" to be defined.And he was very direct: it would be "naive to think that we can do this at 27".Thus "those who do not want to advance must not block those who are ambitious" to define such a strategy.The proximity of the Grande Coalition agreement concluded between Angela Merkel and the SPD makes wings grow to the French President who now hopes to be able to advance in concert with Germany, even if it should not be ourselves on the ability of ourNearby to go very far: Angela Merkel, who had expressed herself shortly before to strengthen the euro zone, repeated that there would be no pooling of risks or debts and that if we could move forward on'Banking union or that of capital markets, her vision is much more cautious than that of "Europe power", more romantic carried by the French president.

Haro on the "clandestine passengers" of globalization

Finally, in a third part, the longest, pronounced curiously in French, as if the Head of State wanted to address the French rather, Emmanuel Macron made a long plea against the rise of nationalismAnd to maintain an open world, but with more critical words also with regard to what Davos represents.He asked for a "new global contract" to correct a globalization "which draws down" and where certain countries "carry out non -cooperative strategies".Otherwise, he warned, if we do not convince the populations that globalization is not against them, "in 5, 10 or 15 years, it is the nationalists who will prevail".

The policy of "common goods"

In hollow, without quoting it, he denounced the policy of lower taxes of Donald Trump on businesses but also the tendency to the lowest permanent social which maintains countries in a logic of unlimited competition, which is done at the expenseFrom what he called "common goods" that are "democracy, social cohesion, health, the environment and sustainable development".However, "the enemies of the common good, they are always those who have a strategy of clandestine passenger", whether states, carrying out aggressive non-cooperative policies (the United States has just taken new protectionist measures on solar panelsChinese), or the private sector that Emmanuel Macron did not hesitate, in this bodies, to remind their own responsibilities.

He defined "three duties" for the coming years: duty to invest, must share and have to protect.

Investing in training and education, especially in poor countries, "the education of young girls without which we will not have gender equality"."The solution is for women" launched the president who made the filling of the gender wage gap in France a priority of his mandate.He insisted at length on the urgency to train to prepare workers and generations to come to major changes with new technologies, including artificial intelligence (one of the most mentioned for fear this year in Davos).If we do nothing, and if we do not think this new technological world in a framework of multilateral regulation, "Schumpeter will very quickly look like Darwin" he launched."And living in a totally Darwinian world is not good".He therefore pleads for common rules to be developed principles during the next G20 in Argentina.

New regulations required

Share the creation of value then, because in contemporary, financial and technological capitalism, this sharing is no longer fair and digs the inequalities between the "super stars" of finance and technology (massively present in Davos, not necessarily inThe room where Emmanuel Macron was expressed!) And the 99%."The companies that last have a value-sharing strategy," he launched them calling them to generalize CSR (Social and Environmental Responsibility).He castigated the multinational tax optimization strategies and called the United States and China to join the BEPS Treaty proposed by the OECD.And criticized the attitude of digital multinationals like GAFA, which make taxable matter escape outside national borders."I willingly welcome them to France" (Facebook and Google announced investments in AI, notably Monday in Versailles), but the presence of such tax distortions fallen for competition and prevents French startups from growing up,-He denounces."We have to end this unjust system together.If you believe you say or hear in Davos, you have to change that ”.Because "the major digital players will provoke disruptions that will destroy millions of jobs.We governments, will therefore have to massively reform people.If companies do not contribute by their taxes to finance this investment, what to say to the middle classes of our countries ”.On financial regulation, Emmanuel Macron also asked that the IMF and the prudential surveillance institutions are expanding their surveillance to these whole sides which escape all control, like Bitcoin whose volatility worries regulators, or as the finance of the shadow, who thrives outside the regulations.

Be transparent on our inconsistencies

Finally, the third part is protection against climate change and new geopolitical threats, in particular terrorism.On the climate, Emmanuel Macron called Europe has finally decided a floor price for CO2, in order to materialize the commitments made during the Paris Agreement and the development of green finance."The heart of the new social contract is that it must involve all actors, fight against clandestine passenger strategies and be coherent, with regard to the objective of defense of commons.This will not happen overnight, but at least we must be transparent on our inconsistencies ”.So this is the program and vision of the French president to treat the fractures of globalization.Obviously, they are strictly opposite of the "America First" speech that Donald Trump will justify Friday.Upstream of this latest highlight of Davos 2018, some American officials took the lead, deploying, like the American secretary to the treasury, Steven Mnuchin, an argumentation at least caricatured of what Macron called the strategy of the clandestine passenger, notCooperative: "What is good for America is (necessarily) good for the world, knowing that America is one of the main players in world trade".And the worst part is that, in the short term, it is undoubtedly the conviction of the majority of multinationals present in Davos.The same Mnuchin declared the same day in Davos "that a lower dollar was good for the United States", breaking with the tradition of the great American Argentiers who have always spoken of "strong dollar", confirming that the strategy "noCooperative "of the Trump administration is to" devalue "the greenback, which continued yesterday to fall against most of the currencies.Have you said "non-cooperative"?Obviously, the balancingist's speech of the French president is unlikely to be heard by Donald Trump.This did not prevent him from inviting his "friend" Macron for a state visit to the United States, which will be the first of a foreign leader since the US election.

Philippe Mabille

9 minutes

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