French President Emmanuel Macron, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 20, 2026. MARKUS SCHREIBER / AP
T-shirts, electro and jazzy remixes, and thousands of parodies. Rarely has a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, gone so viral. Or rather, two words from a speech: those spoken in English by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, January 20, when he admitted that Europe "sometimes is too slow, for sure." He placed extra emphasis on those last two words, "for sure," with an exaggerated – and, it must be said, slightly ridiculous – accent. "Fo shur," wrote with irony French Response, the official satirical account of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, on X.
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French Response, the foreign ministry's X account for trolling disinformation
Nothing unites people more than a French president speaking poor English. In France, we see it, somewhat mockingly, as a reflection of our bad reputation in foreign languages. Abroad, and particularly in English-speaking countries, it is seen as a trace of French chic. Sometimes, a French accent in English can even help a catchphrase become popular. In 1996, a few angry words spoken in poor English by President Jacques Chirac in Jerusalem instantly became a global political symbol. The words were addressed to Israeli security officers who prevented Chirac from approaching Palestinian demonstrators: "What do you want? Me to go back to my plane and go back to France, is that what you want? (...) This is provocation!"
