Francois Hollande

Austerity need not be Europe's fate.

Before you, I engage myself to serve my country with the devotion and the exemplary that this post demands. I understand responsibilities of the job and, as such, I give a republican salute to Nicolas Sarkozy who has led France for 5 years and who deserves all of our respect.

I am proud to have been capable of giving people hope again.

I want to initiate a change in society in the long term.

The British have been particularly shy about the issues of financial regulation, and attentive only to the interests of the City - hence their reluctance to see the introduction of a tax on financial transactions and tax harmonisation in Europe.

There is just one France... one single nation, united in the same destiny.

I am the president of the youth of France.

There's always a risk when the candidate becomes president: Will he deliver what is expected of him?

My obligation, if I become president, is to give another direction to Europe than the one that is being forced upon us today.

I don't want to drive the markets crazy. I don't want to create trouble, but rather order and rules and norms. We have to struggle against financial excesses, those who speculate with sovereign debt, those who develop financial products which have done so much harm.

Nothing was given to me, nothing was entrusted to me, nothing was assigned to me. Everything I have, I took by right.

I hope Britain stays in the European Union, but I don't want to decide for the British.

Nicolas Sarkozy said he could see a wave rising. For once he was right. The wave's coming; it's high, its strong, and it's going to smack him in the face.

I don't want to leave my successor and my children to pay for France's debt.

I am for a clear distinction between public and private life. I believe private matters should be regulated in private and I have asked those close to me to respect this.

I've got a thick skin.

I prefer that people remember me as a president who made reforms rather than a president who did nothing.

Our enemy in Syria is Daesh: it's not about containing but destroying this organisation.

A country outside the euro zone cannot have a veto over countries in the euro zone.

My goal is to put France back on its feet. I have to put this country back on its feet.