Quotes By Francois Hollande

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.

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

I have given myself one objective, to be the long-awaited successor to Francois Mitterrand.

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

What is happening in the Sahel for the past several months is that terrorists have structured themselves, have installed themselves. It's not simply a menace for west Africa.

I am attached to the French language. I will defend the ubiquitous use of French.

I could have made a fortune in cheeseburgers, but I finally chose politics.

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.

My real adversary has no name, no face, no party. It will never be elected, yet it governs - the adversary is the world of finance.

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.

I am the president of the youth of France.

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.

I perfectly understood President Obama's attitude throughout the French presidential campaign. He had no reason to distance himself from Nicolas Sarkozy. It's the basic solidarity that leaders who worked together owe to each other.

Nicolas Sarkozy said he could see a wave rising. For once he was right. The wave's coming; it's high, its strong, and it's going to smack him in the face.

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.

There is just one France... one single nation, united in the same destiny.

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.

Each country has a soul, and France's soul is equality.

Before you, I engage myself to serve my country with the devotion and the exemplary that this post demands. I understand responsibilities of the job and, as such, I give a republican salute to Nicolas Sarkozy who has led France for 5 years and who deserves all of our respect.

France isn't just any country in Europe, and its president is not an ordinary leader in the world. Sometimes directing or leading the way is not enough, he has to initiate policies, as Nicolas Sarkozy was able to demonstrate during his term.

I commit myself to serve my country.

I have defended the interests of France at the G8 in Washington; afterwards I was at Chicago to announce the withdrawal of French troops from Afghanistan; I have participated in two European summits, so I have fully respected the engagements I made to the French.

Austerity need not be Europe's fate.

Everyone says Francois Mitterrand had huge charisma. But before he was president they used to call him badly dressed, old, archaic and say he knew nothing about the economy... until the day he was elected. It's called universal suffrage. When you're elected, you become the person that embodies France.

One thing that makes France different from other countries is the tradition of social solidarity. People from all backgrounds and political positions are willing to contribute for services and protection of society as a whole - but on the condition that money is being spent effectively and that everyone is paying their part.

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.

My adversary is the world of finance.

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

We need the help of other member countries and leaders who, like us, want to see a change in Europe's direction. That's also my logic when I tell voters that electing me president will not only shape France's future, but also initiate change across all of Europe.

I don't want to leave my successor and my children to pay for France's debt.