La REF is MEDEF's annual conference for French organised business: two days each summer at Stade Roland-Garros in Paris where thousands of executives meet government ministers, elected officials and journalists just before the political rentrée. The 8th edition, themed "Le Courage", ran 26 and 27 August 2026 and closed with the first debate of the campaign among seven declared candidates for France's 2027 presidential election. No date has yet been published for a 2027 edition.
REF - Rencontre des Entrepreneurs de France, known as La REF, is the annual summer conference of MEDEF, France's largest employers' federation. Over two days in late August it gathers business leaders, government ministers, elected officials and journalists at a single Paris venue to debate the condition of the French economy just ahead of the political rentrée. The most recent edition, the 8th, ran 26 and 27 August 2026 at Stade Roland-Garros under the theme "Le Courage" and closed with a televised debate among seven declared candidates for the 2027 presidential election.
Not yet announced for 2027; the most recent edition ran 26 to 27 August 2026. As of this verification on 3 September 2026, neither laref.org nor medef.com carries a save-the-date for the next edition. Stade Roland-Garros, 2 Avenue Gordon Bennett, 75016 Paris, hosted that most recent edition. La REF has run annually since 2019 and has used Roland-Garros as its venue since 2025; on that pattern a 2027 edition would fall in late August 2027, but that is an inference from past rhythm, not a published date.
MEDEF, the Mouvement des Entreprises de France, France's largest employers' federation, founded in 1998 as the successor to the CNPF (Conseil national du patronat français). It represents around 240,000 companies employing close to 12 million people, per MEDEF president Patrick Martin's own 2026 opening address, organised through territorial federations and sector branches. La REF itself began in 2019 as MEDEF's rebrand of its older summer university (the Université d'été), first held at Hippodrome ParisLongchamp before moving to Stade Roland-Garros for the 2025 and 2026 editions.
Around 20,000 participants was the organiser's own projection ahead of the 2026 edition, and Usine Nouvelle reported that registrations had roughly doubled compared with 2025's audience; MEDEF's own 2025 figure, repeated on laref.org's current 2026 event page alongside 700 accredited journalists and 146 partners, is 13,000. No independently audited final headcount for 2026 was found. The database's earlier estimate of 5,000 predates the move to Roland-Garros and both the 2025 and 2026 organiser figures, and is superseded here. Ahead of the 2026 edition, MEDEF also stated it expected 16 government ministers, 5 former prime ministers and 113 parliamentarians in the aisles; those are pre-event expectations, not a confirmed post-event count. The room itself is a mix of CEOs and entrepreneurs from companies of every size, federation presidents, ministers and elected officials across party lines, and accredited press.
MEDEF's own materials advertise around 120 speakers for 2026; no full public roster was found during this verification. Confirmed by name and role from independent press coverage:
The 2025 edition's confirmed speakers, including then Prime Minister François Bayrou and ministers Eric Lombard, Marc Ferracci, Sébastien Lecornu and Gérald Darmanin, are a prior year's roster and are not carried forward here.
The theme changed from 2025's "Jeu Décisif: l'heure des choix" to "Le Courage". The closing sequence changed in kind, not just in name: pre-event MEDEF communication described it as "What business leaders are saying", built around a consultation of business owners, but it in fact ran as a two-hour debate among seven declared 2027 presidential candidates, questioned by five business leaders and moderated by LCI's Amélie Carrouër, the first such debate of the campaign. Ursula von der Leyen became the first sitting European Commission president to address La REF. Registrations were reported to have roughly doubled compared with 2025. The government changed since the 2025 edition, so the ministerial roster turned over entirely: Roland Lescure now holds the Economy portfolio under Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who does not appear in the confirmed 2026 speaker record found during this verification.
Four named plenary debates carried the "Le Courage" theme: "Produire ou Périr" on reindustrialisation, "Sommes-nous prêts à affronter la guerre?" on defence and geopolitical readiness, "Le Consensus ou le Courage" on political decision-making, and "La Solidarité Inconditionnelle, Jusqu'à Quand?" on the sustainability of the social model. Two one-on-one guest interviews ran alongside these: Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa on 26 August and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 27 August, who set out six priorities for European competitiveness (simplification, business financing, the single market, energy, artificial intelligence and trade). The two days closed with the presidential candidates' debate. Five thematic tracks ran in parallel: Pôle Social, Pôle Compétences, Pôle Transition Écologique, Pôle International and Pôle Sports et Culture. MEDEF's own site lists 17 debates and keynotes for the edition, with replay video published for each afterward.
In-person only: large plenary debates on the main Philippe-Chatrier court, one-on-one guest interviews, five parallel thematic track sessions (the "poles"), and the closing presidential debate format, candidates questioned in turn by a panel of business leaders rather than by journalists alone. All sessions run in French. Seventeen sessions from the 2026 edition were published as video replays on laref.org.
A youth-focused strand, "La Jeunesse a du Talent"; author book signings; dedicated working sessions for SME and ETI leaders; and stands and meetings run by territorial MEDEF federations throughout the two days. Separately, MEDEF ran a half-day thematic event, "REF Souveraineté: Accélérer ou (encore) décrocher", on 29 June 2026 in Paris at the Maison des Travaux Publics, opened by Patrick Martin, as a standalone precursor to the August flagship rather than a session inside it.
122 EUR TTC per participant is the rate territorial MEDEF federations (for example MEDEF Ain) reimburse in full for their member companies, capped at two participants per company; a Wednesday dinner was included in that package. MEDEF has not published a single universal public tariff grid distinguishing a standard public rate from a member rate, so this is a documented territorial-federation rate, not a confirmed national list price.
Not publicly disclosed. The programme is curated by MEDEF; no open call for speakers or submission form was found on laref.org or medef.com as of this verification.
No public sponsorship application process was found. The 2026 roster is organised into seven named tiers, from Platinium down to a small Start-up and a Nature tier; the full list is in the entry below. How a company enters a given tier is not documented publicly; it is reasonable to assume this runs through direct contact with MEDEF's events team, but that is not publicly disclosed.
Thirty-six named partners across seven tiers, published on laref.org:
Separately, four named media partners cover the event: Boursorama and its daily programme Ecorama (media partner), Groupe AEF, publisher of AEF info, Novethic and Carenews (media partner), L'Opinion (media partner), and LinkedIn Actualites (media partner).
Read from the 2026 partner roster rather than from a published breakdown, three types dominate. Insurance and protection groups: Malakoff Humanis, AXA, AG2R La Mondiale, Klesia, Groupe APICIL, AESIO. Large industrial and services corporates: Société Générale, ENGIE, Icade, Getlink, Elior Group. Professional and administrative bodies: the CCI network, France Travail, URSSAF, Ordre des Experts-Comptables, Fédération Syntec, Polyvia. Early-stage and scale-up companies appear only through the small Start-up tier (Algos, Hub Institute, Teoola, YellowBox), not as a dominant category, and MEDEF's own territorial federations (Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Grand-Est, Nouvelle-Aquitaine) also sponsor directly.
Not publicly disclosed beyond MEDEF's own communications team handling requests. Laref.org's current 2026 event page repeats a figure of 700 accredited journalists, the same number MEDEF reported for 2025, without describing an application process or a deadline.
Three angles, from confirmed 2026 coverage. Business-anxiety coverage: Usine Nouvelle reported worried executives and candidates "attendus au tournant" ahead of the event, and Journal du Net reported that the seven presidential candidates "n'ont pas convaincu les patrons" after the debate, business leaders leaving no more reassured than before. Institutional and diplomatic coverage: Le Monde du Chiffre and Affiches Parisiennes (mesinfos.fr) covered Ursula von der Leyen's address and her six competitiveness priorities, and Epoch Times covered her firm stance on China. Placed coverage from the organiser's own media partners: Boursorama/Ecorama (media partner), Groupe AEF (media partner), L'Opinion (media partner) and LinkedIn Actualites (media partner) all carried event coverage as declared partners rather than as independent assignments.
Four tiers, not one undifferentiated pile of "press". Organiser-arranged, not independent: Boursorama/Ecorama, Groupe AEF, L'Opinion and LinkedIn Actualites are all named 2026 media partners of La REF, so their coverage is placed content, not a free editorial choice. Independent and often critical: Usine Nouvelle, Journal du Net, Décideurs Magazine and the left-leaning L'Insoumission are not on the partner list, and their coverage of business-leader disappointment after the candidates' debate reads as genuine reporting rather than promotion. Predictable but not itself coverage: LCI's Amélie Carrouër moderated the debate on assignment, so LCI's own broadcast of it is a booking, not independent editorial judgment about whether the event mattered. Organiser-claimed, unverified: the 700-accredited-journalist figure on laref.org's 2026 page is identical to the 2025 figure and carries no year-specific audit. Net read: the most substantive coverage found, on the candidates' debate falling flat with business leaders, comes from outlets with no partnership tie to MEDEF.
Non-French speakers: every session runs in French, with no interpretation found, and Ursula von der Leyen's own address was delivered in French rather than English. Anyone seeking a neutral academic or think-tank forum: MEDEF is an advocacy body, and its president used the 2026 opening address to argue against tax increases on business, which sets a consistent institutional orientation across the programme. Specialists wanting deep technical workshops in a single sector: the dominant format is plenary debate, not hands-on technical sessions. Startups or founders without a connection to MEDEF's member network: the sponsor and speaker rosters skew toward established enterprise, insurers and professional bodies, with only a small Start-up sponsor tier.
La REF sits at the French end of a late-summer to early-autumn run of national and regional economic forums: it follows the Rencontres Economiques d'Aix-en-Provence in early July and precedes the Ambrosetti Forum at Cernobbio and the Economic Forum Karpacz, both running in the first half of September. What sets it apart on that circuit is organisational identity, not scale: La REF is run directly by a national employers' federation advancing its own advocacy agenda, rather than by an independent think tank or foundation, and in 2026 it became the first of these forums to host a live debate among declared candidates for a national presidential election.
Yes, in two distinct forms. Territorial MEDEF federations run their own regional REF events independently of the Roland-Garros flagship, for example REF Hauts-de-France and REF Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes; these follow a similar format at a smaller, local scale. MEDEF also runs separate thematic events under related names across the year, including REF Souveraineté (a half-day event, 29 June 2026 in Paris) and other REF Thematique or REF Numerique gatherings; these are distinct events, not additional venues for the same August conference.
French throughout. Ursula von der Leyen's 2026 address to the room was delivered in French rather than English, per press coverage of the session. Whether Antonio Filosa's one-on-one interview ran in French or English is not confirmed.
No live remote-attendance option was found for the 2026 edition. Recorded replay is published afterward: laref.org lists 17 debates and keynotes from the 2026 programme as video replays, including the sessions on production, war readiness, consensus and the presidential debate.
Not publicly disclosed. No refund or cancellation policy was found on laref.org or medef.com. The 122 EUR reimbursement some territorial MEDEF federations offer their members is a membership benefit that covers the entry cost; it is not a refund policy for an attendee who registers and later cancels.
Not publicly disclosed specifically for La REF. Stade Roland-Garros itself publishes a general accessibility statement for the venue: accessible stadium doors, a dedicated shuttle for wheelchair users reservable up to 48 hours ahead, and reserved disability parking between Porte 23 and Porte 27. No La REF-specific accessibility page, contact or statement was found.
Stade Roland-Garros, 2 Avenue Gordon Bennett, 75016 Paris. Nearest metro stations: Porte d'Auteuil and Porte de Saint-Cloud, both a few minutes' walk. Advance-reservation paid parking is available at Jean Bouin, Parchamp and Porte d'Auteuil, and secure bicycle parking is provided on site.
Read the 2026 closing sequence as the clearest signal of what La REF is for: MEDEF did not just invite the seven declared 2027 presidential candidates to speak, it had them questioned in turn by five of its own business leaders, on a stage it controlled, months before any primary or official campaign. That is advocacy staged as news, not neutral convening, and it is consistent with Patrick Martin's opening address, which argued against new taxes on business ahead of an unresolved budget cycle. The event's real audience is less the 20,000 people at Roland-Garros than the political class watching what French business asked the candidates, and how they answered.
Three different organiser-linked numbers describe the same event: the database's own prior estimate of 5,000, MEDEF's repeated 2025 figure of 13,000 still sitting on laref.org's 2026 page, and a roughly 20,000 pre-event projection that press coverage described as registrations "doubling" year on year. None of the three is independently audited, and no confirmed post-event headcount was published during this verification. Treat any single number here as the organiser's chosen framing for a given moment, not as an attendance record.
The timing explains the choice: with under a year to the 2027 presidential and legislative elections, and MEDEF's own OpinionWay consultation of tens of thousands of business leaders finding roughly 90 percent worried about post-election economic policy, a stage where seven declared candidates answer to business leaders directly serves the federation's advocacy purpose better than a closing panel of MEDEF's own members restating the same concerns. Journal du Net's reporting that the debate left business leaders "no less worried than before" suggests the format delivered exposure for MEDEF's agenda without extracting firm commitments from any candidate.
Official site: laref.org. MEDEF's own 2026 event hub: medef.com/la-ref/laref26-2026. Organiser: medef.com. Hashtag: #LaREF26. YouTube: youtube.com/user/medeftv. X (Twitter): x.com/medef. Instagram: instagram.com/medef_officiel. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/medef.