NEWS COVERAGE - FRANCE

ECONOMY AND BUSINESS NEWS FROM THE PAST WEEK

April 17th, 2015
Business Sweden in Paris

FRANCE: FRANCE AND INDIA SIGNS FIGHTER JET

CONTRACT WORTH 4BN
The French President Franois Hollande and the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi came to an agreement for the
Indian army to purchase 36 Rafale fighters Sunday 11/04
The order, worth approximately 4 bn, encapsulates 36 already assembled Rafale fighters

Discussions were initiated in 2012 with a potential order of 126 fighters partially made in India:
Dassault Aviation, the French supplier of Rafale fighters, refused to corporate with their Indian counterpart Hindustan
Aeronautics Ltd, due to potential technology transfer and know how
The order of 36 ready-to-fly fighters should be seen as a trade-off, according to Sameer Patil, a national security
expert at Gateway House, a Mumbai-think tank
Discussions regarding a potential future delivery of 126 additional fighter aircrafts continue, according to French and
Indian delegates

The Rafale programme, whose development costs amount to 40 bn, sees its first export orders in 27 years
India has become the second importer of Rafale, after a first order of 24 fighters to Egyptian in February, 2015
valued at 3.5 bn

SOURCES: 1, 2 & 3
BUSINESS SWEDEN

17 APRIL, 2015

FRANCE: NOKIA MERGES WITH ALCATEL-LUCENT

On Wednesday 15th, the finish telecom company Nokia
announced that it will purchase Alcatel-Lucents
operations at a cost of 15.6 bn

Strategic merger to counter Swedish and Chinese

influence:

Market shares in the telecom equipment

industry, before Nokia-Alcatel merger

17,7%
38,4%

By accessing Alcatel-Lucents networks, Nokia will

strengthen its presence in the US and in China

Ericsson

Nokia will in the near future be able to increase its

competition with the two world leading telecom giants,
the Swedish Ericsson as well as the Chinese Huawei

Alcatel-Lucent

Huawei
Nokia Networks
Cisco
ZTE
16,1%

The Elyse welcomed the creation of a new European

telecom champion:
Demands have been made to not delocalize current
R&D departments, currently employing 6000 persons

Others

8,7%

5,1%
5,6%

8,2%

SOURCES: 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8
BUSINESS SWEDEN

17 APRIL, 2015

FRANCE: THE FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY APPROVES

THE NEW HEALTHCARE REFORM
The French Minister of Social Affairs, Health and Women's Rights, Marisol Touraines much debated reform package
was passed on Tuesday 14/04
The most debated reform, called le tiers payant, introduced by the end of 2017, consists in obliging a patients social
security to pay up front for medical consultations, instead of the patient
The patient will then not risk to suffer from cash flow shortage, by waiting to be reimbursed by the social security,
thus making medical consultations more available to the most indigent citizens

Healthcare professionals have critized the reform, being afraid it would lead to increased paper work consisting in
mapping patients different social security or health insurance

New measures to be introduced by May 2016, in an attempt of fighting tobacco consumption:

Applying shocking photos on packets of cigarettes, as well as removing brand etiquettes making it impossible to
distinguish different cigarette brands

Other measures in the scope of the reform package:

Ban of specific chemicals currently found in toys
Le droit loubli, i.e. giving ex-cancer patients the right not to mention their former disease when negotiating bank
loans
SOURCES: 9 & 10
BUSINESS SWEDEN

17 APRIL, 2015

SOURCES
1.

Financial Times 11/04/2015, Narendra Modi promises to buy French warplanes,

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2f352ba0-e02c-11e4-a4e2-00144feab7de.html#axzz3XIBR3COW

2.

Financial times 14/04/2015, Fighter jets deal signals Indian procurement shift,
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/1cf185cc-e272-11e4-ba33-00144feab7de.html#axzz3XIBR3COW

3.

Les Echos 13/04/2015, Delhi renonce construire les Rafale en Inde !,

http://www.lesechos.fr/industrie-services/air-defense/0213028131-linde-renonce-a-construire-les-rafale-en-inde-1110847.php

4.

Usine Nouvelle 14/04/2015, Alcatel-Lucent Nokia : le futur champion europen capable de concurrencer Huawei ?,
http://www.usine-digitale.fr/editorial/alcatel-lucent-nokia-le-futur-champion-europeen-capable-de-concurrencer-huawei.N324773

5.

Les Echos 14/04/2015, Alcatel et Nokia prts crer un gant europen des tlcoms,
http://www.lesechos.fr/tech-medias/hightech/0216861981-alcatel-et-nokia-prets-a-creer-un-geant-europeen-des-telecoms-1111224.php

6.

Les Echos 14/04/2015, Alcatel-Lucent : lEtat vigilant mais conciliant pour le rapprochement avec Nokia,
http://www.lesechos.fr/tech-medias/hightech/0217033797-alcatel-lucent-letat-vigilant-mais-conciliant-pour-le-rapprochement-avec-nokia-1111235.php

7.

Financial Times 15/04/2014, Nokia confirms Alcatel-Lucent acquisition,

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/af18dae8-e332-11e4-9a82-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=intl#axzz3XIBR3COW

8.

Svenska Dagbladet 15/04/2015, Nokias varning till Ericsson: Skapar europeisk teknikmstare,
http://www.svd.se/naringsliv/branscher/teknik-och-telekom/nokias-storkop-ar-klart-skapar-europeisk-teknikmastare_4487015.svd

9.

Les Echos 14/04/2015, Les dputs adoptent le projet de loi Sant,

http://www.lesechos.fr/economie-france/social/0216213980-les-deputes-adoptent-le-projet-de-loi-sante-1111184.php

10.

Les Echos 14/04/2015, Ce que la loi de sant va changer pour les franais,
http://www.lesechos.fr/economie-france/social/0212868462-ce-que-la-loi-de-sante-va-changer-pour-les-francais-1111003.php

BUSINESS SWEDEN

17 APRIL, 2015