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Remember that the days of your life are not many, for God answers in the joy of your heart. Kohelet 5:19 |
Jacques Attali (born 1 November 1943 in Algiers, French Algeria) is a French economist, writer and senior civil servant.
Former adviser to President François Mitterrand and first president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, he founded the non-profit organization PlaNet Finance and was nominated President of the Commission for the Liberation of French Economic Growth. He published more than fifty books, including essays and novels.
He belongs to the top 100 public intellectuals in the world, according to the Foreign Policy Magazine (May/June 2008)
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Jacques Attali was born on November, 1st 1943 in Algiers (Algeria), with his twin brother Bernard Attali, in a Jewish family . His father, Simon Attali, is a self-educated person who achieved success in perfumery and jewelry trade (« Bib et Bab » shop) in Algiers. In 1956, two years after the beginning of the Algerian war (1954-1962), his father decided to move to Paris, with his family (Jacques was 13).
Jacques and Bernard studied at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly, in the 16th arrondissement, where they met Jean-Louis Bianco and Laurent Fabius. In 1966, Jacques graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique (first in the class of 1963). He also graduated from the Ecole des mines, the Institut d’études politiques de Paris and the Ecole nationale d’administration (third in the class of 1970). He also has a doctorate in economics.
In 1968, he met François Mitterrand for the first time, while he was doing an internship at the prefecture of a French department (Nièvre).
He has a passion for music : he plays the piano (he once played for the association Les Restos du cœur), and wrote lyrics for Barbara. He is the author of Bruits, an essay which deals with the economy of music and the importance of music in the evolution of our societies. He directed the Grenoble University orchestra (performing very different pieces, which ranged from a symphony composed by Benda to Bach’s violin concertos, a mass composed by Mozart, Barber’s Adagio and Mendelssohn’s double concerto for violin, piano and orchestra), and co-directed the Lamoureux orchestra with his friend, the geneticist Daniel Cohen, during the gala of Technion university, in Paris.
In 1970, when he was 27, he became a member of the Council of State. In 1972, he published his first two books, Analyse économique de la vie politique and Modèles politiques, for which he was awarded with a prize from the Academy of Sciences.
He taught economics at the Paris-Dauphine University, at the Ecole polytechnique and at the Ecole des Ponts-et-Chaussées.
His network comprises several young researchers : Yves Stourdzé (who invented the European research program Eurêka) and Erik Orsenna, but also leading figures in various fields (journalism, mathematics, show business, financial analysis …).
In 1979, he founded the international NGO Action contre la Faim (ACF).
His close collaboration with François Mitterrand began in december 1973. In 1981, the latter, after he was elected President, named him as his special adviser. From this moment on, Jacques Attali wrote, each evening, notes for the attention of the French President, which dealt with economics, culture, politics or the last book he read. The President also entrusted him with the role of « sherpa » (personal representative of a head of State) for the G7 summits.
Jacques Attali then enlarged his circle of acquaintances to Raymond Barre, Jacques Delors, Philippe Séguin, Jean-Luc Lagardère, Antoine Riboud, Michel Serres, Coluche. He advised the President to get Jean-Louis Bianco, Alain Boublil and several young, promising graduates from the Ecole nationale d’administration (like François Hollande and Ségolène Royal) to join his team.
In 1982, he pleaded for « economic rigour ». He organised the Paris G7 summit in 1982. In 1984, he participated in the launching of the European program Eurêka, dedicated to the « development of new technologies ». He organised the bicentennial of the French Revolution of July 14th, 1789. In 1989, he initiated an international plan of action against the disastrous flooding in Bangladesh.
Jacques Attali has always been in favor of the creation of a global government, and his arguments tend to demonstrate that the constitution of a new world order is essential to maintain democracy. He thinks that the regulation of the economy by a global financial institution can be a solution to the financial crisis which started in 2007. This institution would be a first step towards the institution of a global government, of which the European Union is an illustration.
In 1990, during François Mitterrand’s second mandate, Jacques Attali gave up politics and left the Elysée Palace. He participated in the creation of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), in London, and became its first President. He had initiated the idea of this institution in 1989, before the fall of the Berlin wall, in order to support the reconstruction of Eastern European countries. Jacques Attali thus founded the first institution dedicated to Eastern Europe. Under the leadership of its President, the EBRD promoted investments which aimed at protecting nuclear power plants, protecting the environment and, more generally, developing infrastructure and reinforcing private sector competitiveness.
In 1991, Jacques Attali invited Mikhail Gorbachev to the EBRD headquarters, in London, against the opinion of British Prime minister John Major. By doing so, he compelled the heads of State of the G7, who were attending a summit in this town, to receive the Soviet head of State. After a stormy phone call between Jacques Attali and John Major, the British press started to criticize the President of the EBRD and spread suspicions about the management of the institution. These suspicions were taken up by some French journalists. Jacques Attali explains his stance in a chapter of his book C’était François Mitterrand, entitled « Verbatim and the EBRD » : « the work in question had been done under the supervision of an international working group to which I did not belong. » Indeed, when Jacques Attali left, voluntarily, the EBRD, the board of governors gave him final discharge for the management of the institution.
In 1993, Jacques Attali won a libel suit ; he had been accused of having reproduced in his book Verbatim, without François Mitterrand’s authorization, secret archives and several sentences of the French head of State which were meant for another book. The Herald Tribune even published, on the front page, an article claiming (wrongly) that President Mitterrand had asked for the book to be withdrawn from selling. François Mitterrand confirmed in a long interview that he had asked Jacques Attali to write this book, and acknowledged that he had proofread it and had been given the possibility to make corrections.
In 1994, Jacques Attali founded Attali & Associates (A&A), which gathers all the competences in strategy consulting, corporate finance and venture capital to help companies develop on the long run with profitability.
In 1998, he founded PlaNet Finance, a non-profit organization which is active in more than 80 countries and provides funding, technical assistance and advisory services to 10 000 microfinance players and stakeholders. Le Monde has disclosed the fact that PlaNet Finance employs interns which are paid less than 400 euros, in contradiction with the stance adopted by the Commission for the Liberation of the French Economic Growth (whose President was Jacques Attali).
In 2001, Jacques Attali was subject to investigations on the charges of « concealment of company assets which have been misused and influence peddling ». He was discharged on October, 27th 2009 by the magistrate’s court of Paris, « on the benefit of the doubt ».
On July, 24th 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy entrusted Jacques Attali with the presidence of a Commission dedicated to the study of the obstacles to economic growth, known as 'The Commission for the Liberation of the French Economic Growth'. This commission was composed of 42 members. They handed their report to the French President on January, 23rd 2008. They made several recommendations which aimed at transforming the French economy and society in order to « liberate growth » and take up various economic challenges.
On September, 9th 2010, Jacques Attali was appointed as a member of the directorate of the Musée d’Orsay. Like Nicolas Sarkozy, Martine Aubry and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, he is a member of Le Siècle. Since 2010, he directs the Grenoble University orchestra with Patrick Souillot.
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