Mr Macron sought to dazzle captains of industry at a glitzy event at Versailles Palace, delivering a speech partly in English – an extremely unusual move for a French leader on home soil.
He also arranged for 15 members of his government, including Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, to conduct “speed dating” sessions with overseas bosses in a clear bid to capitalise on uncertainty over the future and underline his European leadership credentials at a time when British Prime Minister Theresa May is distracted by Brexit negotiations and German Chancellor Angela Merkel is struggling to put together a coalition government.
Among the guests were CEOs from Google, Goldman Sachs, Coca Cola and Chinese group JC.com, as well as Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg’s right-hand woman at Facebook.
His decision to deliver part of his speech in English is almost unprecedented – and Mr Macron was careful to balance this out by delivering the rest of his charm offensive in his native tongue.
The 40-year-old, who was elected to the presidency last year, took the opportunity to sell France to foreign investors as “the place to be” at the event, carefully timed for the week before the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
The former investment banker has already forced through reforms to France’s labour laws, cut wealth tax and has promised to reduce corporate tax from 33.3 percent to 25 percent by the end of his five-year term.
He has been buoyed by a recent an Ipsos poll of 200 top foreign bosses, which suggested that 60 percent found the country attractive compared to 46 percent the previous year, and projections that growth will hit 1.9 percent of GDP this year, the highest in ten years.
France is widely seen to be making a bid to erode UK dominance in financial services, including planning what the Financial Times this month called a “raid” on the UK’s £8trillion asset management industry.
In addition, Mr Macron’s government is rumoured to be preparing to unveil a package it hopes will lure 10,000 banking and finance posts from London by cutting payroll taxes for high earners moving to Paris.
It will also open four new international lycees in the Paris region for children of expatriates in a clear attempt to make the city more attractive.
Cédric Pietralunga of Le Monde: “The Versailles summit is part of this wider plan to woo foreign business from Britain but also Germany. Macron is riding high right now and considers it fair game to poach from neighbours.”