Bosses, between exasperation and concern in the face of political instability

The long queue snaking outside Roland Garros Stadium early Wednesday afternoon, August 27, might have suggested that a tennis star was performing there. However, it was neither Jannik Sinner nor Carlos Alcaraz who had the honors of the Philippe Chatrier court, but Patrick Martin, the president of the Medef (French employers' association), the main representative of the employers' organization. No doubt inspired by the setting, the boss of the bosses alternated between defense and attack to open the traditional Meeting of French Entrepreneurs, which continues until Thursday.

Three days after the Prime Minister's surprise decision to hold his government responsible in a vote in the National Assembly on September 8, Patrick Martin supported François Bayrou: "The Prime Minister was right to alert the French people to the seriousness of the situation in our country," he declared, while calling on political decision-makers to "overcome their partisan rivalries. (...) This is not going that way, I am dismayed."

Certainly, many business leaders, from all regions of France, do not hide their exasperation with elected officials. "If politicians could think about France rather than themselves, that would do some good," says Stanislas Lacroix, head of Aldes, a Lyon-based family business specializing in ventilation, employing 1,800 people.

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