Jean-Pierre Raffarin Quotes

Economic necessity will override patriotism and cause the nations of Western Europe to band together--if not under a single government, then certainly in a close politico-economic alliance

After choosing monetary union, further political union and workable governance in Europe was always going to be necessary.

The EU is not a country and it's not going to become a country, in my view, now or ever in the future. It is a group of countries working together.

It's been President Clinton's dream that we'll have finally a fully integrated Europe.

In Western Europe there are now only small countries—those that know it and those that don't know it yet.

European union is our destiny.

Western Europe has been redefining the nation state since 1945 when it formed the European Union following World War II.

I see us very much at the heart of Europe. We are founding members of the single market; we are founding members of the euro.

The E.U. is an organization that was created after the Second World War for calming down the nationalism of member states, and it did so very successfully.

Whatever the details of union may be, there's no doubt we need more policy coordination in Europe.

The E.U.'s 500 million citizens enjoy the right to live and work in any of the Union's 27 member states.

This much is true: When we created the euro, it wasn't possible to create a political union along with it. People weren't ready for that. But since then, they've grown more willing to go in that direction. It's a process, one that is sometimes laborious and sometimes slow. But it's important to keep the populations involved.

'Federalism', in the context of political and media usage in Britain, has come to mean the creation and imposition of a European superstate, one centralised in Brussels.

People feel that the EU is heading in a direction that they never signed up to. They resent the interference in our national life by what they see as unnecessary rules and regulation. And they wonder what the point of it all is. Put simply, many ask 'why can't we just have what we voted to join - a common market?'

Peace in Europe can only come through union in one economic system. The United States of Europe are overdue.

Limitless enlargement of Europe means the death of political Europe.

The creation of a United States of Europe is a necessity if one considers the economic and technical situation.

United States of Europe

Germany is the united heart of an ever increasingly united continent.

We have direct elections for the European Parliament. We have the [European] Commission that is independent from the member states. Of course we all belong to a country, but we are independent from our governments.

The European Union ranks among the most extraordinary political achievement of modern times. It has abolished tariffs, established a common currency, and spread peace and prosperity to democracies across Europe.

We have to be serious and consistent if we believe the European Union makes sense. I believe it makes sense.

I think of the world as geographical regions, and it excites me to think about the opportunity that Europe can have if we consider it to be the 500-million-people region that it is.

There's going to be a need for a system of cooperation within the continent of Europe including the U.K. that covers both economic and political cooperation.

In the long run, Europe will certainly move toward unification. But it will be a process of push and pull, and there will be resistance.