Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday unveiled a €30bn “France First” plan to champion local industry as he laid out his agenda for a second term six months before presidential elections, reports The Telegraph.
Nuclear power and a plan to build smaller reactors to drive the mass production of green hydrogen and electricity for clean cars was at the heart of the “France 2030” plan to invest over the next five years on industry and innovation across a wide range of areas.
The protectionist tone of the marathon hour-and-a-half speech at the Elysee Palace before industry leaders and students comes as the campaign for next April’s presidential election is heating up with a string of rivals such as far-Right maverick Eric Zemmour warning France is in a state of perilous decline.
Pointing to a shortage of face masks when the Covid pandemic first broke, Mr Macron said the crisis had shown the importance of home-grown production in strategic areas.
While he said that France had reclaimed the mantle of “most attractive country in Europe with employment levels not seen in 20 years”, he conceded that it had taken key decisions "15-20 years later than some of our European neighbours" and now needed to "to become again a nation of innovation and research”.