I would like to see Greece as a case study, an opportunity for Europe to strengthen its coordination of fiscal policy.

I never thought of politics as a profession.

Very often, people will come out and say, 'Greeks aren't doing things, Greeks aren't making changes, there's no reform,' That is hogwash. We have made a huge effort. The Greek people have made a huge effort.

I will always be upfront with the Greek people, so we can solve the country's problems together.

When I was growing up in the United States and Sweden, I never thought about becoming a politician.

The more there is a European solution to a theoretical, but possible, problem in the markets, the less we will have to talk about an I.M.F. solution.

I can officially state that my government and myself believe that all over Europe we need to open a debate on the 'drug question' in order to create more coherent and human policies with better perspectives. . . . The policy of criminalizing consumers has failed, creating many problems to our society.