I have extremely friendly feelings for German chancellor. I think Angela Merkel is very courageous, and that is one reason I have such great respect for her. But I also know that she has now survived French presidents for 12 years. I am constantly trying to imagine all the mistakes my predecessors made and to avoid repeating them.

If this enormous pressure didn't exist, I wouldn't have been elected. It would have been one of the usual candidates.

The U.S. is a great government, is a great country. The U.S. did sign the Paris Agreement. It's extremely aggressive to decide on its own just to leave, and no way to push the others to renegotiate because one decided to leave the floor. It doesn't fly. I think it's a big responsibility in front of history, and I'm pretty sure that my friend President Donald Trump will change his mind in the coming months or years. I do hope.

We are with Angela Merkel both people who proceed methodically, we love details. At summits, we two are among the few heads of state and government who take notes. I have always been someone who wants to explore things down to the last detail so I can understand them. And she is the same, I value that about her. I love the discussions that we have with each other about such things.

I am very interested in writers from the Francophone world. I like Kamel Daoud a lot, for example. In "The Meursault Investigation" and "Zabor," he shows a passion for the French language, a very special way of writing that belongs to those who live on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea. It is language that connects us. It allows people there to cling to our history, our culture and sometimes also our values.

When we speak about climate change, you're a victim of something ... which is happening with deep roots where you don't have - anything to deal with. And people just want to choose a life. That's very much important. And I think one of the key elements of the collective battle we have today, in order to fight against climate change is to provide people the ability to choose a life. To have a better life by behaving differently, by innovating, by creating new type of companies and startups, new type of activities.

I thoroughly believe that reading and literature can help a society to better understand itself.