The Republic is open and tolerant but also knows how and when to be firm and make its values respected.

I was a Member of the European Parliament for a period of time and I saw a lot of European laws and treaties.

The Republic is open and tolerant but also knows how and when to be firm and make its values respected.

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.

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.

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

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.