Our children and grandchildren visit us regularly in the Élysée Palace . The little ones are constantly running around outside in the garden. The first time they were intimidated by this place, but now they move around here totally normally. I think it is important that people really live in this place.

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.

I refuse to give into the sad reflex of French envy because this envy paralyzes our country.

The Élysée Palace is a place laden with history. It is a place where power has left its mark - over the course of centuries, ever since the revolution. You just sort of become part of it and continue the history. But, of course, there is a sense of gravitas.

Georg Hegel viewed the "great men" as instruments of something far greater. Hegel believes that an individual can indeed embody the zeitgeist for a moment, but also that the individual isn't always clear they are doing so.

Of course, there are hurtful moments of the malice and rumors - the worst are not the ones that affect you, but ones that affect other family members. But you have to distance yourself from it, otherwise you would be unhappy.

I hope that Angela Merkel can become the chancellor of the rebuilding of Europe, in close cooperation with the role that I will play in the process.