Emmanuel Macron Can’t Afford to Stick By Carlos Ghosn
The future of the Renault-Nissan alliance is paramount for France, and the CEO’s tax arrangements are also hard to support at a time of mass protest.
Carlos Ghosn's tax arrangements made it hard for Emmanuel Macron to keep supporting him.
Photographer: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images
France has done the right thing by paving the way for Carlos Ghosn’s succession at the top of automaker Renault SA. Whatever the merits of the legal case against the CEO in Japan, he remains in custody, has been denied bail, and his trial could be at least six months away. This is not an executive who’s able to properly carry out his duties. Replacing Ghosn would not mean presumption of his guilt, nor a vindication of Japan’s alarmingly harsh legal system.
The move by the French government, owner of a 15 percent stake in Renault, follows the drip-feed of allegations against Ghosn – who had been the driving force behind the global alliance between the French carmaker and Japan’s Nissan Motor Co. While his shock arrest and hard treatment in jail raised questions at first about the Japanese justice system and its unusually high conviction rate, the reports about how he ran the Renault-Nissan alliance have made uncomfortable reading at a time when capitalism’s excesses are in the dock.