Marine Le Pen’s immigration stance could lead to a tech talent vacuum in France.
It is very clear that Marie Le Pen’s national rally party may win the elections in France. What is less clear to most is the impact that her policies will have on the tech sector.
The French tech ecosystem is the third biggest in Europe, and much ado has been said about Le Pen’s inability to convince the tech elite to continue to invest in France if her immigration policies increase labor costs to levels that reduce France’s international competitiveness.
Le Pen, the National Rally superstar, has summarised her ideas for technology matters in two words: “digital sovereignty”.
To achieve “digital sovereignty,” Le Pen has promised to using local suppliers in France for public orders in the military and national security fields. Other public orders will be prioritised for European or French suppliers, particularly via the “French sovereign fund”.
Le Pen also wants to support French and European operators to host data and public services companies as alternatives to the services developed by American giants such as AWS and google. This would be a massive challenge as there is currently no European alternative to these US based services.
There is also a potential policy of protection involving foreign investment in France, which would stop foreign or non-European companies from buying up French businesses and start-ups.