French Economy Minister Says France's Business Imagine Improving.
QUEST: The magnificent views, along with the pan flute music. It must be, of course, Peru. Magnificent, even with the mosquitoes. As we continue the coverage from the IMF and World Bank, we'll have more from the panel a little bit later on. On the question back in Europe, France's economy minister says a few stupid people were responsible for the appalling scenes that took place at Air France when senior executives of the company found themselves under attack by protesting workers. You'll be well aware, of course, that as part of those protests, they had literally the shirts ripped off their back, and the men had to run to escape. Now, the economy minister, Emmanuel Macron, spoke exclusively to Jim Bittermann and says that action will be taken against those responsible.</s>JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just days after Air France workers attacked their bosses, who have been pushing reforms to streamline the company, after dramatic conflicts between taxi and Uber drivers, which led Uber to close down part of its French operation, and after any number of strikes and social conflicts, the 37- year-old French economics minister gathered venture capitalists from the US and other countries for two days of meetings hoping to convince the financiers that economic reforms are taking hold here, as he explained in this exclusive interview with</s>CNN. BITTERMANN (on camera): What's the point of this?</s>EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH ECONOMICS MINISTER: The point is first to explain our policies, to explain what we are doing here in terms of reforms. To explain how, basically, our ecosystem in terms of innovation and start-ups is increasing and improving, and how attractive it is.</s>BITTERMANN: Do you find that they have a bad image of France?</s>MACRON: Roughly speaking, I would say that our image has improved, and we have to do a lot of things. As for Air France, we are speaking about a few isolated people, extremely violent, who decided to do so after the announcement of an important restructuring plan. So, the government backs management, and all the unions condemned, ethically, this fact. So I want to be clear, it's not about France, it's about stupid people, and they were condemned for that.</s>BITTERMANN: It was a little curious to me that you've got to go outside to get investors, to get venture capital. This is a rich country. Why do you need to go to outsiders to invest in France?</s>MACRON: If we want to accelerate this new, new economy, I would say especially this disruptive economy in a lot of sectors, we need to be much bolder and much more aggressive in terms of financing. And you know, historically speaking, when you look at the French situation, we were largely driven by financing through debt or through banks. And we have to shift the model towards a much more market-driven financing, and a much more equity financing. Our people are extremely aware of globalization of disruption, and of the fact that we have to change our model.</s>QUEST: The economy minister of France, Emmanuel Macron, talking to Jim Bittermann. We will be talking to the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney; the finance minister of Brazil, Joaquim Levy; and the managing director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde. The second part of our panel discussion, when we get to grips with the individual issues facing the various countries. QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, we are live, tonight, in Lima.