A country like France now does two-thirds of its trade within the euro zone.

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

It's important to show that, while authorizing the demonstrations and promoting diversity of opinion, the Republic can't allow itself to be undermined from within.

I think that we must come together progressively, with the British, the Germans, the Spanish, the Italians and with the new members of the European Union, we must make an effort to forge closer links.

We shall say clearly that any symbol conspicuously displaying religious affiliation in school is prohibited.

The Europe we are in the process of building is the Europe of the 21st century; it's not the Europe of the 20th century.

Let them be reassured, it has never been one of our intentions to ban religion in society, but solely to protect the national education system from any conspicuous display of religious affiliation.