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

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.

We must stress that the euro has been beneficial to the European Union because, otherwise, in this context of international turmoil, every country would have to devalue their currencies.

There have been major disagreements within the European Union.

I tell fundamentalists that there is no question of them attacking our Republic's foundations.

Obviously, there is diversity, but Europe is a union of diversity.

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.