Francois Hollande Quotes - Page 2

Austerity need not be Europe's fate.

In front of you I commit myself to serve my country with devotion.

The British have been particularly shy about the issues of financial regulation, and attentive only to the interests of the City - hence their reluctance to see the introduction of a tax on financial transactions and tax harmonisation in Europe.

There's always a risk when the candidate becomes president: Will he deliver what is expected of him?

I am the president of the youth of France.

I know where I'm going and I have told the French. I am sure if hope is there, we will be able to put France back on its feet to live better in five years than we do today.

Nothing was given to me, nothing was entrusted to me, nothing was assigned to me. Everything I have, I took by right.

I'm going to gather all the French people who want change.

It will be very important for us to continue to keep up the necessary pressure, the necessary vigilance, for there to be peace in Ukraine, our trust in the goodwill of President (Vladimir) Putin is limited. It is why we have to maintain our decision about sanctions.

I don't want to drive the markets crazy. I don't want to create trouble, but rather order and rules and norms. We have to struggle against financial excesses, those who speculate with sovereign debt, those who develop financial products which have done so much harm.

Europe needs an engine, and the Franco-German motor has provided that when the two nations have converged on important topics during critical periods. But that partnership shouldn't be a directorate for other EU members.

We are a big country, with lots of advantages and history. We are proud to be French. We have to call on patriotism at this time... to ask for an effort in the battle against debt.

Terrorism fuels itself from all kinds of illicit trafficking: drugs, weapons, human beings.

What the French want is coherence, stability and justice. If I am in a favorable position today, it's because my fellow citizens want to make the effort to straighten out the country, and at the same time they want it to be just and equitable.

France, after the month of May, will share trust with the current leadership of the United States which, on many subjects, has tended to take useful positions in our view.

That is now my mission: to provide a European vision of growth, employment, prosperity - in one word, our future.

France is the bridge between northern Europe and southern Europe. I refuse any division. If Europe has been reunified, it's not for it to then fall into egotism or 'each for one's own'. Our duty is to set common rules around the principles of responsibility and solidarity.

Is France a northern European export powerhouse, or a Mediterranean indebted and dependent economy? Yes to both.

During a term in office there are highs and lows, but what counts is that the goal is set as well as the means to achieve it, and the force we put into getting results.

I want to initiate a change in society in the long term.

Between France and Senegal there's a history. There's a language that we both speak. There's a culture that we share and to which both of our peoples have contributed. But beyond our history, beyond our language, beyond the links that have united us for so long, what unites us today is the future.

The transatlantic relationship is vital for both our countries: France will remain a reliable ally of the United States. Nevertheless, ally does not mean aligned.

My obligation, if I become president, is to give another direction to Europe than the one that is being forced upon us today.

My mission is to put France back on its feet. The priority is employment. Efforts have to be made, but those efforts must be made fairly.

My adversary is the world of finance.