The United States, for a French citizen, is a friend, an ally, to whom we owe, along with most Europeans, our freedom.

Prohibiting a visible religious sign, which isn't a manifestation of militancy, would look like a fight against religions.

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

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.

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.

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

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.