The public, political and social impacts of private equity are often swept aside in interviews with the great and the good of the industry. But in Eric de Montgolfier’s first major interview to appear since he took over at the helm of Invest Europe two years ago, they are very much to the fore.

“As an industry, our role is to make policymakers understand that we can be very helpful in achieving one common goal: making sure that Europe as an economy and Europe as a society benefits from what we can bring to the table,” he says.