‘No need to be disrespectful’: Macron tells Raj Shamani what he thinks of Trump making their private messages public

French President Emmanuel Macron said it is fine for leaders to not share the same ideas but it is important for them to be respectful. Everything with the civilisation process demonstrates the importance of respect, and it is strange to see leaders going backward in that regard, said Macron.

The French president was speaking about US President Donald Trump’s heavyhandedness in dealing with his peers, and the time he made his private messages with Macron public. Macron offered to set up a G7 meeting in Paris after Davos. He also invited Trump to dinner in Paris. “Well, nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon,” Trump told reporters, referring to Macron.

Now reacting to the entire episode, Macron said in ‘Figuring Out with Raj Shamani’ podcast, “I mean I let you judge and your question means something by itself. I really believe that respect is part of leadership and we have to provide respect to each other. You can share ideas or not. You can disagree but you have to do it in a respectful way between leaders but within democracies as well.”

“This is why I've always been extremely committed to fighting against any sort of hate speech or violence in our societies because when you have democracy, you have the right to change your leadership. You decide who will take the law and pass the law on your behalf. So no need to be violent and disrespectful. Respect was built. Everything which goes with the civilisation process was built years after years, decade after decades in order to improve ourselves and it's a little bit surprising for people to see leaders going backward. And it's not the right message,” he said. 

ON DOLLAR DOMINANCE

Macron also spoke about whether he thinks the Dollar dominance is ending. “I would be super careful. Today the Dollar is clearly dominating the world. I really believe in a multipolar order and I will do whatever I can to strengthen the international role of the Euro,” said Macron.

The French president said that it is not as easily achievable and many measures have to be taken to strengthen the Euro. “We have to be more innovative. We have to be more competitive. We have to invest much more. We have to be on top of the trade agreements we sign. We have to sign swap lines to have Euro as the exchange currency and we have to make sure that the Euro is seen by the key central bankers of this world as an alternative to the Dollar meaning we have to provide more Euro as a safe and liquid asset. We have everything to succeed in this strategy…I really believe it's possible. We have a window of opportunity but it would be wrong to say that it's the case today. It's to be delivered and I really hope we will be able to do so,” said Macron.