|
"The driving role (rôle moteur) played by France and Germany, naturally we expect to exercise it for the good of the European Project."
"I have confidence in the future of Europe because I have confidence in the solidarity fo the Franco-German relationship."
"The 22nd of January shall henceforth be known as 'Franco-German Day'"
|
|
Jacques Chirac, French President since 1995. Speech at a joint meeting of German and French parliamentarians on 4th anniversary of Treaty of Versailles. Versailles, 22 January 2003.
|
"We are asking the nations of Europe between whom rivers of blood have flowed to forget the feuds of a thousand years."
|
|
Winston Churchill, (1874-1965), British statesman, writer, Prime Minister. Speech, 14 February 1948. Click here to hear him speak on the subject.
|
"On the basis of repeated meetings with him and of an attentive observation of his actions, I think that if in his own way W Hallstein [first president of the European Commission] is a sincere "European", this is only because he is first of all an ambitious German. For the Europe that he would like to see would contain a framework within which his country would find once again and without cost the respectability and equality of rights that Hitler's frenzy and defeat caused it to lose; then acquire the overwhelming weight that will follow from its economic capacity; and, finally, achieve a situation in which its quarrels concerning its boundaries and its unification will be assumed by a powerful coalition."
|
|
Charles de Gaulle, President of France 1959 - 1969. Memoirs of Hope, 1970.
|
"The future will belong to the Germans... when we build the House of Europe. In the next two years, we will make the process of European integration irreversible. This is a really big battle but it is worth the fight."
|
|
Helmut Kohl, German Chancellor 1982-1988, who presided over reunification of Germany but whose legacy was tarnished by a massive party financing scandal. Reported in Freedom Today, 1996.
|
"I am not saying that that the French have built Europe, but Europe has always attracted French talent."
|
|
Jean-Pierre Raffarin, French Prime Minister since 2002. Financial Times, 15 January 2004.
|
"France and Germany [must] play a driving role (rôle moteur) in Europe. This isn't directed against anyone else. It is a service rendered to all of Europe."
|
|
Wolfgang Schäuble, German rightist polititian, Kohl's successor as leader of the CDU, but also tainted by party funding scandals. Le Monde, 16 Jul 2002.
|
"Germany, as the biggest and most powerful economic member state, will be the leader, whether we like it or not."
|
|
Theo Waigel, German politician, leader of leftist CSU and Minister of Finance 1989-1998. Father of the name 'Euro' for the currency - the French wanted to call it the Ecu but were persuade 'Euro' was more saleable in Germany.
|
"If Germany, thanks to Hitler and his successors, were to enslave the European nations and destroy most of the treasures of their past, future historians would certainly pronounce that she had civilized Europe."
|
|
Simone Weil, 1909-1943, French philosopher & mystic. "The Great Beast," pt. 3 (written 1939-1940), published in Selected Essays, ed. Richard Rees (1962).
|
If you have an authenticated quotation on Europe, the EEC or the EU that you think should be listed here, then email me .
|
