There's always a risk when the candidate becomes president: Will he deliver what is expected of him?

I don't want euro bonds that serve to mutualize the entire debt of the countries in the euro zone. That can only work in the longer-term. I want euro bonds to be used to finance targeted investments in future-oriented growth projects. It isn't the same thing. Let's call them 'project bonds' instead of euro bonds.

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.

I don't want to leave my successor and my children to pay for France's debt.

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

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.

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.