Thanks to the euro, our pockets will soon hold solid evidence of a European identity. We need to build on this, and make the euro more than a currency and Europe more than a territory... In the next six months, we will talk a lot about political union, and rightly so. Political union is inseparable from economic union. Stronger growth and Euorpean integration are related issues. In both areas we will take concrete steps forward.

The U.S. withdrawal from the Kyoto protocol endangers the entire process.

I want to make an extremely strong appeal to those who abstained. Vote. It takes five minutes and then it's for five years.

This assumes an upward revision of the European Budget, which is precisely what Jacques Chirac refuses to do. On the contrary, he has demanded a reduction.

For a long time many believed that there would be an automatic adjustment and counted on a rapid increase in the wages of the emerging nations, on our advances in technology and the costs of transport preventing disruption. But this reassuring analysis is out of date.

If the US economic landing is soft there will be no consequences (for Europe).

The EU should help the emergence of "organized multipolarity" in the currently non-polar world.