Medef summer conference: French business leaders gather under cloud of political uncertainty

Let's cross to France 24's Yuka roer who joins me from where it's all happening at the L race course Yuka uh a corporation's growing impatient with this state of limbo well exactly they're they're very impatient the head of medf said that the political uncy has dampened France's business activities over the summer is not a good thing and this is the biggest convention annual Convention of France's main business Lobby so it's as usual it's buzzing with people with thousands attending but this year uh with president macron under intense pressure obviously to form to name a new prime minister it's a little different the uh last year for instance the uh prime minister then prime minister Elizabeth bour was the guest of honor on the the opening day this year economy Minister Bruno L was the only member of the out going government who attended the first day of the meeting and he didn't give a speech he didn't take to the podium instead mef's president Patrick Maran uh in his during his opening remarks asked the audience to give a round of applause uh to uh the econ the outgoing economy Minister as he praised the pro business policies of the past seven years of the government especially the tax reform um now and he describing that as taking France into the right direction now at the same time he left out at some economic Promises of the leftist Coalition the new popular front uh including raising the minimum wage to 1600 a month and counseling president macron's pension reform and bringing the retirement age back down uh to 60 he said that Med should exercise the positive power that the organization has and extend influence uh create and also called to reset the current system of social protection let's take a listen to what he had to say in his opening remark it's unprecedented in the history of medf it's even greater evidence of our theme power and of the overall political Panorama of our country Panorama that is unprecedented fractured and worrying but one where fortunately our Parliament is regaining a more Central role so uncertainty Uka uh domestically but also globally that's right well there's a lot of geopolitical tensions of course with two Wars waiting on Europe's doorstep and trade tensions Rising between China and the us but also uh the EU businesses and companies large and small are facing additional challenges with me to discuss more uh is Boris Lombard he is the president of ksb it's a German multinational manufacturer of uh of vves and pumps thank you for joining us thank you very much good evening Yuka good evening and now last few years have been tremulous for businesses large and small including including your uh company how have first there was the covid crisis then then Russia invaded Ukraine so the whole business climate has changed for many sectors including industry how have you adapted I think we have changed the mindset in Industry uh tremendously uh we are not integrating in our policies the fact that the world is changing very fast the fact that we need to adapt to these changes uh we need to be uh very much uh you know agile and follow up the operational team in a much closer way and uh that's uh basically um business as usual today to adapt to these fast changing uh environment business as usual but then again how have you changed you've you went towards more regionalization uh when protectionism at the same time is rising around the world you know regionalization is not new in the world it started I think about 10 years ago with the uh uh you know the emergence of new competitors particularly uh in in in China so that's a trend that is ongoing but uh that trend has accelerated with the covid and the crisis because we we have to be careful not to be too vulnerable to uh to these crisis to uh uh uh for example supply chain disruption that that may happen and yes there are a lot of factors that push towards regionalization that's part of the measures that we have uh taken uh this is also pushed by the fact that we want to reduce carbon footprint uh and uh basically we're relying now on U uh on Supply chains which are in the vicinity of our factories more than before that's one of the measures that we definitely have taken now here in France the pro business stance of president macron's government the last seven years have provided a lot of opportunities I guess and a favorable environment how um have how are you bracing for a new reality coming going forward I think we have to continue with the uh Pro business policies uh that have been implemented in the last 10 years in in in the country um you know France has attracted the largest number of investments in Europe for the last 5 years and it has to continue uh re reindustrialization of the country has started it again it's very fragile I think we have to be uh very careful not to destroy the climate of trust uh that has emerged in that country in in in the last year so we hope that the uh whatever the next government is going to be uh that very Pro business environment will continue in the country for the years to come thank you so much Boris Lombard and that's it from me from Lan race course all right many thanks yuk attending the