Francois Hollande Quotes

In an election, one needs both hope and audacity.

I think that France has not made it clear enough recently to our German friends how important it is to introduce euro bonds as a tool against speculation. And how the necessary budget discipline needs to be accompanied by growth.

My mission is to put France back on its feet. The priority is employment. Efforts have to be made, but those efforts must be made fairly.

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.

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 know where I'm going and I have told the French. I am sure if hope is there, we will be able to put France back on its feet to live better in five years than we do today.

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

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

It will be very important for us to continue to keep up the necessary pressure, the necessary vigilance, for there to be peace in Ukraine, our trust in the goodwill of President (Vladimir) Putin is limited. It is why we have to maintain our decision about sanctions.

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.

I want to initiate a change in society in the long term.

No one imposes things on anyone in Europe. That's not my notion, nor is it my temperament. The EU has always functioned under the banner of respect, equilibrium and trust.

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.

Between France and Senegal there's a history. There's a language that we both speak. There's a culture that we share and to which both of our peoples have contributed. But beyond our history, beyond our language, beyond the links that have united us for so long, what unites us today is the future.

An education program is, by definition, a societal program. Work should be done at school, rather than at home.

If we don't manage to find not just a compromise but a lasting peace agreement, we know perfectly well what the scenario will be. It has a name, it's called war.

There is just one France... one single nation, united in the same destiny.

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

Symbols mean a lot in politics. They indicate a will and create new realities.

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.

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

Mandela's message will never die. It will continue to inspire freedom fighters and give confidence to people who defend just causes and universal rights.

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

Europe needs an engine, and the Franco-German motor has provided that when the two nations have converged on important topics during critical periods. But that partnership shouldn't be a directorate for other EU members.