Europe was initially supposed to be primarily a political project! The EU never would have come about had it been up to experts or diplomats. It was created by people who had learned from the drama of our collective history. I am proposing a new beginning, not one in which it is first deliberated ad infinitum what instruments one needs, but one that follows from the goals we want to achieve.

We aren't protecting the people who most need it when those who can contribute to the country's success emigrate. Contrary to what some claim, I am not getting rid of the wealth tax to help the rich.

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

I think our responsibility as political leaders today, is to push our economic leaders to change their investment behavior, to decide new things, and to help workers to change their jobs. And I think the mistake that Donald Trump decided to make is exactly the mistake we made in France and in Europe. Which was to resist to the change in order to protect the old jobs. What we have to protect is people, not jobs. If you want to protect people, you retrain them.

Perhaps I am following in the footsteps of François Mitterrand, who really did want to shape Europe. My predecessors, by contrast, thought it was best to say nothing at all and to keep all their options open. That may sound like a tactical approach, but perhaps it was simply because they didn't have any ideas for Europe at all.

There is something very powerful about German music. That's why I chose German music with a European meaning for the day of my election.

We will succeed, because we are fully committed, because, wherever we live, whoever we are, we all share the same responsibility: Make our planet great again.