Reference to the territory and total disregard for the nationality of the companies is of course the best guarantee that competition assessment remain just that and doesn't get affected by trade or other considerations.

This is certainly not the first case in which a merger approved in one place hasn't gone through in the other. There was a case last year where the merger between two EU companies was approved here and blocked in the U.S.

My aspiration is not to be loved. It is that my government be respected and credible.

Growth in any individual European country has to be the result of policies for growth pursued in that country consistent with budgetary discipline.

I have the most profound respect for the Department of Justice and the FTC. We in Europe are a younger and I would say junior institution to the historical antitrust experience of the US.

There was in Italy a hidden demand for a boring government which would try to tell the truth in non-political jargon.

In the area of macroeconomic policies, I think we'll see more centralization, like in the budgetary sphere.