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.

...within ten years 80% of our economic legislation, perhaps even fiscal and social as well' would come from the EU.

The unions may continue to decline, but if they do, it'll be their fault.

The problem with a purely collective system is not only that it requires economic growth, and the right sort of demographic trends, but that it prevents people thinking about their futures in a responsible way.

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

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

We will have to create an avant-garde.... We could have a Union for the enlarged Europe, and a Federation for the avant-garde.