I believe that transatlantic relations are very important and that President Bush's visit to Brussels, in a few days, will have a major impact on that.

It's a different outlook, and one that I understand. When you are a former member of the Warsaw Pact, when you have lived behind the Berlin Wall, when you have experienced the communist systems that existed in these countries, for them, the West represents hope.

But the Republic has its rules and it must not tolerate any abuse of them.

I think that the proposed constitution is one of the European legal documents with the strongest social dimension I have seen since I began following European issues.

Europe started out with six countries; three small countries and three large countries.

France has a very important relationship with Germany. But that does not mean that we agree about everything or that two of our universities or companies are not going to compete.

When I see the cultural diversity that exists today, I feel that we must defend it, and we need Europe, because otherwise we are going to live in a society with a single model, the Anglo-American model.