Capital Economy, Business and Finance
Nearly half the big French companies that have changed CEO in the past five years have hired non-French people. Renault is now run by an Italian, Stellantis by a Portuguese and Air France by a Canadian. The internationalisation of French business in those years has been more than twice as fast as the global average, and Bloomberg’s Lionel Laurent suggests this is thanks largely to Macron’s deliberate disruption of France’s sometimes hidebound business elite, starting with his closure of the École Nationale d’Administration in 2021. Macron is also of course the incubator of incubators; progenitor of le startupisme. But it takes partners to do this sort of tango, and on balance they seem to have been welcomed and inventive. Air France’s Ben Smith is popular with his pilots for being ready to roll his sleeves up with the unions. And Renault’s Luca de Meo has put a wicker basket for baguettes between the two front seats of the new electric R5. (This was announced in February. We’re sorry to have missed it then.)