So your new report says foreign direct investment,
that's investment from other countries into the Eurozone.
It fell by 4% in 2023,
but a double digit 11%
drop since the pandemic. What's making the Eurozone less attractive
right now?
Honestly, I would say three things.
Huge amount of regulation coming through across Europe.
There's been more than 100 new laws just in the
space of cyber alone.
But it's not just cyber,
it's climate disclosure. It's the carbon capture,
it's cyber security, it's AI,
it's data protection. And it's the new tax regimes they're
coming in that have just really hit Europe massively.
Secondly, energy prices, big contingency driving uncertainty and where that
goes.
And 3rd, I have to mention geopolitics,
that's a laundry list that's that's quite a few.
I thought you had a few things sprinkled in there,
but you have quite a few.
One thing we're talking about off camera,
they don't have real plugs in the bathroom in Europe.
So that's that's an issue for Americans for sure.
But that I'm going to that's a personal issue.
So again you said a regulatory burden of volatile energy
prices also a lot of regulation when it comes to
technology.
I also want to talk to you about Greenfield investments.
That's investments by companies, again from outside of the Eurozone
and they're building brand spanking new projects,
whether it's a manufacturing facility or an office building.
That also went down 4%
as well. I want to ask you more specifically about
that because in Europe,
they're trying to grow the tech sector more.
A lot of these Greenfield investments are either in tech
or manufacturing.
Why is that so much under pressure?
I think it's under pressure because people have alternatives.
If you're looking at a Greenfield investment,
you might be enticed, for example,
by the US with their inflation reduction act,
which is really driving. More investment into that domestic economy.
And in fact, when you look at our study,
it shows investment from the US is down 15%
across Europe. That's a big deal for Europeans.
All right. There are some macro factors when it comes
to all this.
And we've seen higher rates across the global economy,
but specifically from the US,
one of the economies that does a lot of foreign
direct investment and also some economic pressures in China,
another country that does large foreign direct investment.
So how are global interest rates being somewhat elevated from
previous years?
How's that plan apart? Well,
that's also driving part of that uncertainty bucket.
You come back to that laundry list.
Global inflation is one of the things that's creating more
uncertainty,
more pressure. When you look at the investments made,
you'll see that R&D is down and people are looking
for more cost efficiency,
redesigning supply chain, getting things closer to their customer to
avoid logistic cost.
All of that is playing a role.
All right. One of the other factors,
you said you didn't name these just now,
but some of the uncertainty in the run up to
the European elections,
rising social tensions and political radicalism,
that's also concerning investors. I got to be honest,
that sounds quite a bit like the United States.
Well, I you know what I think is different.
The US1 regime, 1 country in Europe,
very many, not just the EU 27 plus the UK.
There's a lot going on there.