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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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