The European Union has decades of experience in overcoming crises and has always emerged stronger after.

It's important to recognize that we in Europe will either succeed together or fail together.

I said in my inaugural address that I am not the Council's secretary, nor am I the Parliament's lackey. That can sometimes lead to conflicts, which are defused through dialogue.

I assumed office to bring the EU to a point from which there is no going back. Instead, I am having to unwind the EU to a certain extent.

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

I am in favor of the European institutions being led for the next two-and-a-half years as they have been thus far. We need stability.

My friendship with Martin [Schulz], by contrast, is completely different in that it goes far beyond politics.