[Boris]Johnson, [Nigel] Farage, they are retro-nationalists, not patriots. Patriots don't abandon ship when the going gets tough. They stay on board.

For my generation, the monetary union has always been about forging peace.

The good thing about the European Union is that the joint project ultimately benefits all Member States and not just a few.

The will of the British people must now be put into effect as quickly as possible. Under Article 50 of the EU Treaty the UK must leave the European Union within two years at the latest.

Without the Turkey agreement, tens of thousands of refugees would still be stuck in Greece. The Commission presented proposals for securing Europe's external borders early on, but they languished in the Council for months. As you can see, the Commission isn't asleep. Oftentimes it has to wake up the others.

With hindsight, it is always easy to blame everyone else.

In politics, there are different categories of friendship. My friendship with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, for example .