Between France and Senegal there's a history. There's a language that we both speak. There's a culture that we share and to which both of our peoples have contributed. But beyond our history, beyond our language, beyond the links that have united us for so long, what unites us today is the future.

I want to initiate a change in society in the long term.

Not in the constitution, but I would propose a law to the French parliament that provides for reducing the budget deficit year by year, until we have reached a balanced budget by 2017.

During a term in office there are highs and lows, but what counts is that the goal is set as well as the means to achieve it, and the force we put into getting results.

Nicolas Sarkozy said he could see a wave rising. For once he was right. The wave's coming; it's high, its strong, and it's going to smack him in the face.

France is the bridge between northern Europe and southern Europe. I refuse any division. If Europe has been reunified, it's not for it to then fall into egotism or 'each for one's own'. Our duty is to set common rules around the principles of responsibility and solidarity.

What the French want is coherence, stability and justice. If I am in a favorable position today, it's because my fellow citizens want to make the effort to straighten out the country, and at the same time they want it to be just and equitable.