Jean-Claude Juncker
I believe that if we don't offer legal ways of emigrating to Europe and immigrating within Europe, we will be lost. If those who come - who are, generally speaking, the poor and needy - are no longer able to enter the house of Europe through the front door, they'll keep making their way in through the back windows.Collection: Legal
The rule of law means that law and justice are upheld by an independent judiciary. The judgments of the European Court of Justice have to be respected by all. To undermine them, or to undermine the independence of national courts, is to strip citizens of their fundamental rights. The rule of law is not optional in the European Union. It is a must.Collection: Independence
We decide on something, leave it lying around, and wait and see what happens. If no one kicks up a fuss, because most people don't understand what has been decided, we continue step by step until there is no turning back.
Of course Brexit means that something is wrong in Europe. But Brexit means also that something was wrong in Britain.
In a union of equals, there can be no second-class consumers. I will not accept that in some parts of Europe, people are sold food of lower quality than in other countries, despite the packaging and branding being identical.
It is not acceptable that European Union countries are divided into those who give and those who take.
We do not attract Russian money to Luxembourg with high interest rates.
The European Union has decades of experience in overcoming crises and has always emerged stronger after.
Europe has to be about more than market, goods, and money.
God understands more about the financial markets than many who write about them.
I am strictly against a European superstate.
Being described as a stupid bureaucrat with no link to representative democracy is difficult to take.
Anyone who believes that the eternal question of war and peace in Europe is no longer there risks being deeply mistaken.
In 1913 many believed that there would never again be a war in Europe. The great powers of the continent were so closely intertwined economically that the view was widespread that they could no longer afford to have military confrontations.
I am not a dwarf.
My main concern is to protect people from detriment.
The Luxembourg financial centre is based on several pillars, we are characterised by the breadth of our product range, we are an active participant in the international credit business.
The U.K. decided to leave the E.U. - Brexit means Brexit.
Our idea is to make the U.K. a privileged partner of the E.U.
The populists themselves are dangerous, but they are far more dangerous when the traditional, classic parties adopt their harmful proposals.
No, we should not be afraid of the populists; we should embrace those they are fighting.
Europe must not distance itself from Africa's universal ambitions.
As complicated and complex and as difficult as we are, the unity of Europe is a pre-condition for a better organized world, and if the European Union would fail or decompose, or other members left, the U.S. would have a more difficult role to play in the world.
This was a continent of divisions, of wars, of conflicts, of divergences, differences... When I am in Asia, in Africa, people admire what we have managed to do. Europe is beautiful seen from other continents.
The populists are spreading slogans. We have to offer solutions and answers.
I have met in my life two big destroyers: Gorbachev, who destroyed the Soviet Union, and Cameron, who destroyed the United Kingdom to some extent, even if there is no wave of Scotland to become independent.
Forgetting the importance of national landscapes, cultures, national behaviours, reactions, and reflexes is a big, big mistake.
I am against nationalists, but I am very much in favour of patriots.
The European family may well be anything but perfect. But it is the best thing that we have for bringing the countries of Europe around the same table and for forging compromises so that people here can live in peace, freedom, and prosperity.
If someone complains about Europe from Monday to Saturday, then nobody is going to believe him on Sunday when he says he is a convinced European.
From the very beginning, Europe has been not only a success story but also a story of success achieved by learning.
However painful or regrettable Brexit may be, it will not stop the E.U. as it moves to the future; we need to move forward.
We shouldn't persuade people that we can simply conjure up the sun and the moon: at the most, we can deliver a telescope.
If we allow Catalonia - and it is none of our business - to separate, others will do the same. I do not want that.
When the going gets tough, you have to lie.Collection: Lying
When it becomes serious, you have to lie.Collection: Lying
I'm ready to be insulted as being insufficiently democratic, but I want to be serious ... I am for secret, dark debates.Collection: Dark
Decisions can only be reached in Europe if France and Germany agree.Collection: Europe
One shouldn't pursue the wrong policies just because one is afraid of not being reelected. Those who intend to govern have to take responsibility for their countries and for Europe as a whole. This means, if need be, that they have to pursue the right policies, even if many voters think they are the wrong ones.Collection: Country
It's important to recognize that we in Europe will either succeed together or fail together.Collection: Europe
I am for secret, dark debates.Collection: Dark
A united Europe is our Continent's only chance to avoid falling off the world's radar. The heads of government of Germany, France and the United Kingdom also know that their voice is only heard internationally because they speak through the megaphone of the European Union.Collection: Fall
It is not more Europe or less Europe that we need. We need a better Europe.Collection: Europe
I believe neither the French nor the Dutch really rejected the constitutional treaty.Collection: Believe
I'm convinced that, in the long term, a monetary union includes a joint debt policy under strict, mutually agreed upon conditions.Collection: Long
In Europe, even more so than in national politics, we have to follow the principle laid down by Martin Luther: Use language that the people will understand, but don't just tell them what they want to hear.Collection: Europe
I notice with a certain sense of regret that far too many Europeans are returning to a regional and national mindset.Collection: Regret
We must go back to teach Europeans to love Europe.Collection: Europe
Since it took up office, the Commission which I lead has pursued a clear policy: we need less interference from Brussels when it comes to the things that Member States can deal with better on their own. That is why we no longer regulate oil cans or showerheads, but concentrate instead on what we can do better together rather than alone - such as tackling the refugee crisis or securing our external borders. Only in that way can we make people feel that Europe makes a tangible difference.Collection: Europe
There is a proposal to divide the currency zone into a north and a south euro. There is also the idea of setting up a core monetary union in the middle of Europe. I disapprove of these debates. Instead, we should devote all of our efforts to supplementing the monetary union with a political union.Collection: Europe