This simple question would alarm a lot of people. But not French essayist and former advisor to French President François Mitterrand, Jacques Attali. Before launching the Estates General of the World, he agreed to meet the Global Journal at the premises of his PlanetGroup, which includes prominent agencies such as MicroCred or Planet Rating. He is active in microfinance, development and he is prepared to browbeat current political leaders, and, no doubt, offer shrewd advice to a future world government President. Jacques Attali is a visionary.

TGJ: In your book you put forward ten concrete proposals, based on multiple examples from history, to offer to a future world government. Without wishing to anticipate the respective importance of these proposals, what is the trigger that will galvanize the citizens? Jean Monnet, founding father of Europe, dreamed of unifying Europe through culture, but in fact he did it through energy.

I think that if Jean Monnet launched Europe around energy, it was because he was concerned about the lack of energy, and especially worried about the use of energy for war. He believed that by making coal, steel and all the materials necessary for the manufacture of cannons communal, a war within Europe, between France and Germany, could be definitively avoided. In fact, the motivation was mankind’s oldest incentive to unite: the wish to avoid war. And I think that the fight against violence is still, today, the principle driving force, both for Europe and utopian ideals all over the world. However, in spite of this powerful incentive, Europe has been waging war for centuries, and doesn’t seem to grasp the fact that there is still a risk of world war, and that it would be better to unite before rather than after. In 1910, nobody thought of a world war.

To read the interview, order a copy of the magazine here