From the very beginning Europe has been not only a success story but also a story of success achieved by learning.

I have always considered it to be a minor miracle that after the war, people in Europe's border regions were able to forget everything and, in accordance with the slogan "Never Again War," develop a program that still works today.

I notice with a certain sense of regret that far too many Europeans are returning to a regional and national mindset.

When it becomes serious, you have to lie.

Now it is firstly a matter of a clean divorce, because citizens and companies need legal certainty. Can there be a new partnership with the United Kingdom one day? All 27 Member States would have to agree to that. And the United Kingdom would first have to reflect on what it wants itself.

I wouldn't like Greece to stay recession. I do think that everything has to be undertaken to reconnect with growth.

There is a distorted perception of what goes on in Brussels. No one reports on the Commission taking a hundred initiatives from its predecessor off the table in order to shift competencies back to member state governments.