If you don't have collective agreements between unions and employers, governments have to legislate more.

Any union that can't accept workers choosing their own representatives through universal franchise is finished.

I cannot resign myself to the decline of Europe, and of France.

My presidential victory, if it had happened, would have been artificial in relation to the Socialist party. It may be that on my deathbed, I will come to regret my decision, but for the moment, I live at peace with it.

For me, socialism has always been about liberty and solidarity, but also about responsibility.

The problem of how we finance the welfare state should not obscure a separate issue: if each person thinks he has an inalienable right to welfare, no matter what happens to the world, that's not equity, it's just creating a society where you can't ask anything of people.

We have to struggle against the conservatives from all sides, not only the right-wingers, but also the left-wing conservatives who don't want to change anything.