A large country with such outstanding economic performance as Germany cannot forget that it owes some of its success to demand from other European countries.

I'm going to gather all the French people who want change.

The transatlantic relationship is vital for both our countries: France will remain a reliable ally of the United States. Nevertheless, ally does not mean aligned.

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.

We find ourselves in a difficult situation in Europe. There's a crisis, weak growth, unemployment... my duty is to ensure that by the end of my mandate France is in a better state than it was at the beginning.

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

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