Politics is a dynamic process. When I was a young man in the 1970s, Yasser Arafat had just perpetrated various terrorist attacks. Just a few years later, after I had entered European Parliament, the same Yasser Arafat was given the Nobel Peace Prize.

European policy is always an interplay of rationality and emotion.

I try to speak in a manner that allows people to tell me apart from my political adversaries. And I speak in a manner that the people can understand. For me, that isn't populism.

I would never attack somebody only because they belong to a different party.

Primary responsibility for Brexit lies with British conservatives, who took an entire continent hostage.

I believe that the majority of people in Europe want to demonstrate solidarity with the refugees.

The problem with us EU politicians is that we approach everything with cool rationality, and then wonder why we don't win people over emotionally.