Jacques Attali

First President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Jacques Attali, a French political and economic scholar and renowned public intellectual, was once considered one of the world's top 100 thinkers.

He served as a special advisor to President François Mitterrand and in 1990 founded the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), serving as its first President. In 2007, President Nicolas Sarkozy appointed him to chair the Liberation of Economic Growth Commission, tasked with promoting economic growth in France. Attali invited Emmanuel Macron to serve as his assistant and later recommended him to President François Hollande, leading to Macron's appointment as Minister of the Economy.

Attali played a key role in drafting the Maastricht Treaty, which laid the foundation for the European Union as a political and economic union. He boldly predicted that eurozone countries could propose a joint fiscal budget by 2012 to support the fragile euro. Additionally, he founded the French NGO, PlaNet Finance, and authored several works, including "The Crisis of France," "The Jews, the World, and the Money," "Will Everything Collapse in 10 Years?" and "The Story of the Sea."