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

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

I had decided that I wanted a dog from an animal shelter. Normally, presidents have purebred dogs, but my is a Labrador-griffon mix. Absolutely adorable.

I often speak with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. When I speak with the Turkish president, I defend European positions. That is how we European partners must do things.

The European community of values is unique: It combines democracy with the market economy, individual freedoms with social justice. How can we expect the U.S. or China to defend these values, this one-of-a-kind European balancing act that has developed over the course of decades?

I am a strong believer that modern political life must rediscover a sense for symbolism. We need to develop a kind of political heroism. I don't mean that I want to play the hero. But we need to be amenable once again to creating grand narratives.

Our political system encourages that. We don't have proportional representation. There's little renewal in our political class and it's always the same faces. There's also a lack of morals - it's one affair after the other. A system like that cannot be successful.