
Early in the morning, at the very moment when the second French raid targeting terrorist ringleaders was going on in Saint Denis, North of Paris, on Wednesday, November 18, a packed assembly of around 500 CEOs and senior executives from multinational companies with sizable operations in France was gathering at the Conseil Economique et Social for a day of discussions on “Les Etats de la France.” Under the circumstances, the topic of the day as well as the meeting itself, “Is France attractive for international business?”, may have seemed strange. The organizers had wondered whether they should cancel the meeting. Not at all said the government. All the leading participants showed up, including the French minister of the Economy, Emmanuel Macron and a number of senior representatives of the Administration. They agreed that the best way to fight adversity and terrorism is to focus on what needs to be done.