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London - Four thousand British executives have received a love letter from Paris.
The letter written by the head of the Paris regional government to officials of companies of all sizes a day after the UK voted to leave the European Union on June 23 extols the business advantages of the French capital.
Listing everything from location and infrastructure to a well-trained workforce and world-class services, it makes a case for them to move operations and jobs to the region.
“The Paris region offers an unparalleled quality of life” with its hospitals, schools and cultural offerings among its strong points, Valerie Pecresse, the head of the regional government, wrote in the letter.
Cities across Europe are eyeing the spoils of the British referendum result, making a pitch to businesses large and small who want to secure access to the single market of remaining 27 countries of the EU.
In London’s financial district on Tuesday a truck was spotted carrying a billboard with the words “Dear start-ups, Keep calm and move to Berlin.” French and German politicians have sparred over whether Frankfurt or Paris should take over London’s euro-clearing business.
Paris Europlace, a lobby for the French financial industry, is holding a conference this week to lay out reasons why Paris can be a major regional financial centre. Unusually, Prime Minister Manuel Valls will speak at Europlace’s banquet lunch Wednesday, taking the place of Finance Minister Michel Sapin, as France makes a pitch for London jobs.
Financial transaction tax
“We’re urging British business to think about what’s next, move on and come to Europe,” Pecresse said in an interview. “Let’s not be naive: this is a competition and others also want these jobs.”
Pecresse, a former Cabinet minister under Nicolas Sarkozy is pressing President Francois Hollande to drop any thought of imposing a financial transaction tax that countries such as Ireland and the Netherlands haven’t signed up to.
She said she will be sending the Socialist a letter in coming days in which she argues that the government needs to make itself more fiscally attractive to ex-patriots by offering them special tax regimes and no levies on foreign earnings.
The Paris regional government estimates that about 30 000 financial sector jobs are up for grabs with the UK departure from the EU, with approximately 30 000 more possible posts to be won in other industries.
Global city
With 12 million residents and a geographic position that offers easy rail access to London and Brussels, as well as western Germany and the Alps and the Mediterranean, there is no reason why the French capital can’t compete, Pecresse and other French officials say.
For Pecresse, Paris’s global size and stature themselves should be touted as advantages.
“We’re the only truly global city seeking this business,” she said in the interview at the Rencontres Economiques conference in Aix-en-Provence. “Frankfurt doesn’t have our depth, Dublin is on Europe’s periphery.”
