Paolo Gentiloni Quotes

Our common responsibility is to put Europe's interests first.

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.

The Europeans governments have massively changed the landscape in Europe. There is no doubt about it. They have put together the European Financial Stability Fund. They have discussed and approved the European Stability Mechanism.

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.

Our state is in crisis. Our people are hurting. Now is the time when we all must resist the traditional, selfish call to protect your own turf at the cost of our state. It is time to leave the corner, join the sacrifice, come to the center of the room and be part of the solution.

You've got some very powerful countries: Poland, the United Kingdom, Sweden and others who have a genuine desire to see the euro zone straighten itself out. It's good for all of us, whether you're in the euro zone or not, to make sure that it doesn't lead to a fracturing.

I believe that in Europe, we have a collective leadership.

Our position in Europe is not negotiable. The Greek people will defend it by all means. But participation in the euro involves rules and obligations, which we must consistently meet. Greece belongs to Europe and Europe cannot be envisaged without Greece.

The fact that we're going through a crisis is an opportunity for Europe to be more coordinated and more integrated. We're actually talking about a European Monetary Fund or euro bonds, about guarantees for countries, about economic governance in the European Union. That shows the strength of Europe.

What we should be doing in the EU as a whole is more economic integration in the single market, rather than less.

Nobody in Europe will be abandoned. Nobody in Europe will be excluded. Europe only succeeds if we work together.

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

There must be no question for us that we in the European Union and the eurozone stand by Greece in solidarity.

What we need is a common goal for more Europe.

If the euro fails, Europe fails.

Monetary union must be oriented towards the needs of citizens and must balance the principles of responsibility and solidarity more effectively.

The strength of Europe at the end of the day has always been that we stuck together and that demands a great amount - probably even more so than in the past - of discussions, of balancing, of bringing along individual countries.

Every country in the E.U. should make a personnel and a financial contribution in that area. We shouldn't leave alone countries like Italy and Greece that have external borders; rather, we must make the external borders safe together.

Our interests are indeed common European interests, and the only way to serve them is by common means. That is why all Europeans, and all E.U. member states, have a collective responsibility to strengthen our Union.

Cooperation and solidarity are necessary requirements in order to bring about the solutions that will once again bring stability to the European integration and bring it back to the track of growth.

Greece has to stay in the euro.

If we attack, we all attack.

In order for the E.U. area to stay together, they needed to form a banking union, which meant they needed to have a common credible deposit insurance guarantee for everybody in the E.U. area.

European centralism, European statism, the communitization of sovereign debt, a Europeanization of social systems and of the minimum wage would be the wrong way.

I'm a big believer in Europe.