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.

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

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

I gave myself an objective, to be the second president from Correze and finally to be the successor to Francois Mitterrand.

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

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.

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.