Terrorism fuels itself from all kinds of illicit trafficking: drugs, weapons, human beings.

Nothing was given to me, nothing was entrusted to me, nothing was assigned to me. Everything I have, I took by right.

I'm not a lukewarm European. I know that the German-French friendship is indispensable, no matter who the countries' leaders are.

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.

The British have been particularly shy about the issues of financial regulation, and attentive only to the interests of the City - hence their reluctance to see the introduction of a tax on financial transactions and tax harmonisation in Europe.

I am proud to have been capable of giving people hope again.

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.