France’s corporate leaders are preparing to say au revoir to a decade-long business-friendly climate after President Emmanuel Macron’s snap legislative elections resulted in a hung parliament. Many executives breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday after seeing the far-right party neutralised in a new National Assembly in which no political grouping has a clear majority.
The government led by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal also included a cap on the redundancy payouts for highly paid traders, which big Wall Street banks in Paris had pushed for, warning they would stall recruitment drives without one. Under Macron, banks including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have moved hundreds of bankers to Paris, lured by the French capital’s lifestyle as well as its tax breaks for expatriates.