I think the political class in Berlin doesn't need to be supervised and monitored by intelligence services in order to find out what they're thinking. Just go to lunch with them, go to dinner with them, or read the papers.

Whenever you have political conflict, such as the one that we have now between Russia and Ukraine, but also in many other conflicts around the world, it has always proved to be right to try again and again to solve such a conflict.

This inclination to hoard is deeply ingrained in me because in the past, in times of scarcity, you took what you could get.

Having led many negotiations with countries outside the E.U. in the past, we would never enter the same compromises and reach the same good outcomes with states that don't shoulder the responsibilities and costs of the common market.

I know that sometimes politics creates situations in which people want to say particular things for political reasons.

I think democracy's undermined when those who own newspapers fill them with trivia rather than real issues.

The US and the European Union needs to help in the translation of the demand for democracy into a political will.

The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia.