At La REF, the MEDEF’s flagship annual gathering, artificial intelligence and innovation did not get a dedicated segment in the debate bringing together seven candidates for the 2027 presidential election. Yet both themes ran through nearly every topic discussed: wages, public debt, industry, energy, public procurement and sovereignty. The vocabulary may still be uneven, but technology has clearly become a central political issue.
The debate showed that the candidates have at least grasped one thing: technological power is now inseparable from economic power and national sovereignty. Even when AI was not named explicitly, it surfaced in discussions about industrial competitiveness, the state’s purchasing strategy, energy constraints and France’s ability to remain autonomous in strategic sectors. In other words, technology is no longer treated as a niche subject reserved for specialists; it is increasingly framed as a lever for growth, reindustrialization and geopolitical strength.
What stood out less clearly was the depth of the proposals. The article suggests that while the candidates now understand the importance of the issue, their grasp of the technological mechanisms behind it remains uneven. The debate reflected a broad awareness that France must invest, innovate and secure its industrial base, but it did not yet amount to a fully articulated vision of how to turn that awareness into a coherent national strategy.
The broader implication is that the 2027 campaign is likely to make technology a major political battleground. AI, innovation and sovereignty are no longer peripheral themes: they are becoming part of the core language of presidential politics, even if the policy substance still lags behind the rhetoric.