The unions still have a job to do, representing their members' interests to governments and parliaments. And I think collective agreements still have a role, alongside markets and laws.

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.

The European model is, first, a social and economic system founded on the role of the market, for no computer in the world can process information better than the market.

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

Contrary to what people say, my wife never turned me away from the presidency. She told me to reflect on it and do what I wanted.

Even in Britain, the trade unions tell me that employment contracts have less protection than in the past.

These days there are not enough of such intermediary groups, between the state and the individual, with the result that political leaders are often unduly guided by opinion polls.