France's attractiveness gains strength in 2014. - According to the annual attractiveness barometer on France the EY consultancy firm has just published, France was above the European average number of foreign investment projects in 2014, with 608 projects from a whole range of different sectors and perspectives. The country has even improved on its pre-crisis levels. At a European level, France is in third place in the number of foreign investment projects, behind the United Kingdom (887 projects) and Germany (763 projects). Just as international investors are once again investing in Europe, whose attractiveness has significantly increased this year, France's attractiveness is also part of this trend with an 18% increase in the number of projects compared to 2013. Nonetheless, the analysis also shows a fall in the number of jobs created by these investments, down 11% compared to 2013. The average size of the projects also demonstrates a significant wariness on the behalf of businesses and actually fell compared to the average size of projects in 2013: on average, new international companies setting up in the country created 21 jobs, as opposed to 27 last year. In comparison, there were 2.5 times more jobs created in the United Kingdom by new foreign business ventures. Foreign owned companies are adapting their ventures to the tax and social context in France, particularly with regard to labour costs that are still regarded as being uncompetitive. Although industrial investment has demonstrated some dynamism, this is mainly due to expansion rather than new small ventures and is small-scale, according to the survey. It also highlighted the low level of France's attractiveness for setting up head offices, R&D centres and companies from emerging markets. All investment that is not - or is no longer - being generated in France for the future. 68% of foreign investors say that they are satisfied with their investments in France: the country still has an economy of a critical size, with a large variety of sectors and skills distributed throughout its territory. Nonetheless, investors are extremely critical of the “tax straitjacket”, sustained labour market rigidity and chronic regulatory instability. The four measures investors recommend as a priority in France so that it becomes an attractiveness leader at a global level are: 1) reduce labour costs (44%); 2) make the business administrative and legal environment more flexible (40%); 3) cut business taxation (37%); 4) support research and innovation (32%). (Isabelle Lamberty)