People & Profit

Can European industry regain its competitive edge on the global stage? A new EU report penned by former ECB chief Mario Draghi highlights a growing gap in both productivity and innovation, and warns that businesses will face an "existential challenge" without drastic change and significant investment. Tim Figures, a partner and associate director at the Boston Consulting Group, believes the proposals "turn challenges into opportunities for growth and improved productivity in the European economy". He spoke to FRANCE 24's Kate Moody.

Figures says that tariffs – like the tit-for-tat measures enacted by the EU and China on electric vehicles and brandy imports – can help provide "short-term breathing space for European industry to innovate".

However, he adds: "On their own, they're not a mechanism that will deliver the kind of changes that we need to see to maintain European competitiveness; they need to be seen alongside a whole raft of other measures, as Mr Draghi sets out in his report."

The French government plans to subject the budget to a €60 billion belt-tightening drive next year in the hope of bringing the deficit down to 5 percent of GDP from an estimated more than 6 percent this year. Two-thirds of that sum are to come from spending cuts, and the rest from new taxes. Why does the country find itself in this fiscal hole? How will this new budget impact the country's economy? FRANCE 24's Charles Pellegrin talks to OFCE Economist François Geerolf. 

This week we look at ethical fashion in the age of "direct-to-consumer" giants like China's Shein and Temu. Thanks to their business model based on ultra-fast design and production, consumers can purchase a new look at incredibly low prices. But at what cost for the environment and worker wellbeing? Charles Pellegrin talks to Kamila Boudova, a Paris-based slow fashion coach who helps her clients create ethical wardrobes. They discuss the challenges of wearing ethical clothes in an age of ultra-fast fashion.

Also in the show:

Our China correspondent Yena Lee obtained access to a clothes manufacturing site that focuses solely on selling items on Temu. The platform has been described as "Amazon on steroids". Since launching two years ago it has exploded onto the global e-commerce scene, shipping to around 50 countries.

The athletes have crossed the finish line of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. Now economists are trying their best to accurately assess the economic impact of this global event on the city and on France. Our guest, Wladimir Andreff, is one of them. He is a specialist of sports economics and a professor emeritus at the university of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne. 

After a summer of Olympic fever, it's back to business in France. But uncertainty dominates after snap elections earlier this summer returned a hung parliament. As suspense continues over who will be the country's next prime minister, France's largest employer federation, Medef, held its annual conference on the theme of ''power''. So after seven years of pro-business policies, what's next for France's business community? FRANCE 24's Yuka Royer talks to Medef's Vice President Fabrice Le Saché and asks business leaders what their top concerns are.

While the tech world has been flying high on a wave of optimism over all the potential applications of AI, booming demand for the technology is increasingly straining energy resources. One simple search on ChatGPT consumes almost 10 times more electricity than one on Google. Charles Pellegrin speaks to Mary de Wysocki, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Cisco, a major US-based company that provides data centre products and services.

Scene on Radio, the Peabody-nominated podcast series produced by The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, has dedicated its latest season to exploring the history, failures and future of capitalism over the course of 13 episodes. John Biewen, co-host of the podcast, joins us from North Carolina for a big picture conversation about the system that governs the lives of a large chunk of humanity.  

In the run-up to the UK's general election on July 4, the state of the country's National Health Service (NHS) is a key campaign theme. Satisfaction with the NHS is at its lowest in 40 years and the same is true of social care. Both the ruling Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party are promising to increase funding for the NHS. One business-led social organisation in the UK, Business for Health, advocates for stronger investments in preventative health, especially in the workplace. This could end up reducing the stress on the NHS. Charles Pellegrin speaks to its founder and CEO, Tina Woods.

It's a common and accepted trope that free trade has led to more prosperity.  Yet free trade, and another word that often accompanies it – globalisation – are frequent targets of criticism, with both seen as eroding national sovereignty, taking away local jobs and harming the environment. Charles Pellegrin talks to John W.H. Denton, the secretary general of the International Chamber of Commerce, the world's largest business organisation, whose purpose is to fight for a business-friendly environment around the globe.

A cloud of uncertainty is hovering over Europe this June in the wake of the European elections. In France, the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen dominated the polls to such an extent that President Emmanuel Macron immediately dissolved parliament and called for new elections. The possibility of seeing the far right take power in the country has led to turmoil in the markets. To better understand the economic impact of such a scenario, as well as its likelihood, we speak to Maria Demertzis, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank that specialises in European policy. 

Also in the programme:

• We peer into one of the world’s leading robotics hubs – in the town of Odense in Denmark – and see why the Scandinavian country has made a name for itself in the high-tech space.

• And we explore why South Korea's cosmetics industry – also known as K-Beauty – is going global, surfing on the success of other cultural exports like K-pop and K-drama.