I perfectly understood President Obama's attitude throughout the French presidential campaign. He had no reason to distance himself from Nicolas Sarkozy. It's the basic solidarity that leaders who worked together owe to each other.

I attach the greatest importance to an amplification of the peace efforts in the Middle East. I would also like to see a greater dialogue between the U.S. and the EU.

I could have made a fortune in cheeseburgers, but I finally chose politics.

There cannot be prosperity without security.

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

Is France a northern European export powerhouse, or a Mediterranean indebted and dependent economy? Yes to both.

Mitterrand had a sense for symbols, and he was the first Socialist president since 1958. He wanted to show that there is historical continuity, a connection with the great figures of French history.