Complementing the nation-state as it reaches its limits amid globalization: That is what Europe must offer.

Referendums have always posed a threat when it comes to EU policy, because EU policy is complicated. They're an opportunity for those from all political camps who like to oversimplify things.

The EU is an unique project that replaced war with peace, hate with solidarity. Overwhelming emotion for awarding of Nobel prize to EU

For many people, politics in Brussels and Strasbourg might as well be happening on another planet.

But if you constantly insist only on your own interpretation, it isn't long before it seems patronizing.

I'm not a populist. But I try to present complicated issues in such a way that people know where I stand.

Before we talk about further accessions, we have to consolidate the European Union internally. People are increasingly losing faith in the EU's effectiveness.

I am a man of parliament, a man of the people. I am not a representative of the executives.

A joint European army is a very far-reaching proposal and it would be difficult to implement. Such initiatives are nevertheless needed.

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.

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

It is the artist who tries to gradually accustom people to the possibilities of a better state of things.

I am not addicted to coffee, it find it's way every morning.

My mother is a walking miracle.

There are no warning signs on the trampoline. The warning is the trampoline.

You should do whatever language you feel is the perfect language for you to sing in and then try to strive to do the best.

Clericalism: the habitual confusion between that which is of Caesar, and that of God.

Live all you can; it's a mistake not to.

I lived my life one way for 35 years, for me. And then the focus came in on what I really was.

Only the great masters of style ever succeed in being obscure.

A man does not look behind the door unless he has stood there himself