00:00It's been a very turbulent year, Julie.
00:03We can ask only ourselves how Europe fared and what the future looks like for European countries.
00:09We have the survey and you have this amazing insight.
00:11Can you tell us a bit about this survey and what it tells us about Europe's resilience
00:17as we emerge from the pandemic and the perspective and the future of it?
00:242020 was really a time of volatility and change.
00:28If you think about it, we had the global pandemic.
00:31We had the new U.S. program.
00:33We had a trade deal between the U.K. and the E.U.
00:37We had more than 12 million European job losses and frankly, an unprecedented stimulus package
00:43to really help rescue the European economy.
00:47Despite all of these things, FDI into Europe, foreign direct investment, only declined by 13%.
00:54And in fact, we expect it to rebound pretty swiftly.
00:58I would say that tells us that Europe is really perceived to be a stable environment with an
01:04abundant supply of skilled labor, robust infrastructure, political stability and a large addressable market.
01:12Those are the four factors that really make Europe incredibly attractive.
01:17There's a huge amount of optimism out there, in fact, and it's growing as we move forward into 2021.
01:24We really see a focus on technology.
01:27On the back of this pandemic, all COVID-19 accelerated the customer digital experiences.
01:34And effectively, there's much more physical and digital work environments.
01:39There's more automated production lines and much more automation happening in the back office.
01:45Second, I was really surprised that 90%, 90% of businesses say that sustainability is absolutely crucial
01:54to their long-term investment strategy decisions.
01:57And so European flavor regulation and drive towards sustainability and related regulation is having an impact.
02:06Third, Europe needs to get the right balance in long-term versus short-term economic stimulus.
02:14They've been on the right track, helping businesses in the short term through the pandemic, and then launching the large
02:20resilience and recovery facility,
02:23over $700 billion, to help for the future.
02:26The last point I would make, and you've probably been reading a lot about that recently, especially around the G20,
02:32is that tax harmonization and reforms are going to be key to the future.
02:37So four things to do, digital, sustainability, getting the balance on the stimulus, and don't forget, please, tax harmonization and
02:46reform.
02:47Four things to really make Europe and businesses attractive for the future.
02:52Yeah, that's super interesting.
02:54Thank you very much, Julie.
02:56One last question.
02:57I'd like to narrow the focus a little bit on Italy.
03:00What are your thoughts on this country, and how will it rebound in months ahead?
03:04We know that Italy has had a very steep GDP decline back in 2020, but now it seems pretty well
03:12placed for the recovery.
03:13What are your thoughts about the country?
03:15You know, I think Italy has been extremely resilient, and it's managed to increase its attractiveness over the past years.
03:23Do you know that the number of foreign direct investments initiatives, they've grown by 5%?
03:29Italy has, in my view, an unrivaled opportunity with PNRR across the political and institutional spectrum.
03:38A common goal now to really transform the country, and I can say that the time has come.
03:43It's never been more favorable for true sustainability growth.
03:49So lots of optimism also around Italy in terms of what we can do.
03:54If you look at our study, there's more statistics to back that.
03:58Like 48% of the managers we interviewed said they're ready to invest, and 60% felt that the attractiveness
04:05of Italy would be increasing over the next three years.
04:08This speaks of optimism, but it also speaks of the need for Italy to be courageous in its reform.
04:15The government and the country is now more than ever ready to really take on these challenges and to become
04:22one of Europe's top destinations for foreign direct investment.
04:27Thank you so much, Julie.
04:29These are excellent points, and I'm sure that a lot of people will be interested in this.
04:34There is this reform action, and plus Italy is encouraged by benefactors.
04:40Among them, actually, even this football victory, which just brought so much excitement here.
04:48Let's see what happens.
04:49It'll be super interesting to develop.
04:51Come on.
04:52Italy is the champion for the future, supported by the reforms.
04:56The optimism is great.
04:57It's looking really bright.
04:59Thank you.
Commenti