Though Hollande did not fault Macron, his former economy minister, for engaging with Trump during a trip to Washington earlier this week, he argued that the visit would’ve been more effective with other leaders alongside him and insisted that “seduction and argumentation” wouldn’t work on the U.S. president.
When asked if Macron’s visit had yielded “satisfying results,” as Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot claimed, Hollande responded: “No, because I’m lucid.”
Hollande was president during the 2014 during the Russian annexation of Crimea, and, alongside former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, brokered the Minsk agreements between Russia and Ukraine. Those accords set up a cease-fire that failed to prevent Putin from launching his full-scale invasion three years ago.
Hollande, 70, is often mentioned among potential candidates in the next French presidential election, which is scheduled for 2027.