Europe needs an engine, and the Franco-German motor has provided that when the two nations have converged on important topics during critical periods. But that partnership shouldn't be a directorate for other EU members.

That is now my mission: to provide a European vision of growth, employment, prosperity - in one word, our future.

If we don't manage to find not just a compromise but a lasting peace agreement, we know perfectly well what the scenario will be. It has a name, it's called war.

The German-French friendship is indispensable for Europe. And I will never let myself be carried away to making statements that would change it.

I don't want to drive the markets crazy. I don't want to create trouble, but rather order and rules and norms. We have to struggle against financial excesses, those who speculate with sovereign debt, those who develop financial products which have done so much harm.

There's always a risk when the candidate becomes president: Will he deliver what is expected of him?

France, after the month of May, will share trust with the current leadership of the United States which, on many subjects, has tended to take useful positions in our view.