Jacques Attali has been a major presence in the French political and intellectual scene for decades. He has published more than a dozen books on wide-ranging subjects and was the top adviser to the late Franois Mitterrand, who was president of France from 1981 to 1995.

Attali was subsequently appointed by then-President Nicolas Sarkozy to chair a commission on how to reform the French economy. In that capacity, Attali hired Emmanuel Macron as his assistant and later recommended him to President Franois Hollande as economy minister.

The WorldPost spoke to Attali by phone on Sunday.