Words matter. These are the best Frans Timmermans Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
It has become routine for national politicians to blame Europe. When something works, they claim it as their success. When something doesn’t work, then Europe is to blame.
Is wellbeing only economic growth? Only salaries? Or is wellbeing also being able to breathe clean air and drink clean water?
If you believe that through putting the judiciary under political control you can make it a better judiciary, you are wrong, and you are violating your own obligations under European treaties.
Protectionism has never been an answer, will never be an answer. We need trade. We need trade agreements worldwide.
How many millions of straws do we use every day across Europe? I would have people not use plastic straws any more.
Britain can get far better results if it engages with Europe than standing on the sidelines and saying that Europe should change.
As long as U.K. remains member of the E.U., it should respect the E.U. law.
If we put our policies in the right order, we have a sustainable society without lowering but even increasing our levels of wellbeing.
The U.K. is leaving the E.U. but not Europe.
Being part of the E.U. in Poland means that for the first time in a millennium, nobody disputes Poland’s borders, and it brought a level of freedom that Poland has never known before.
I believe many people – especially small- and medium-sized enterprises across the European Union – are disenchanted with Europe because we haven’t delivered the goods.
The absolute low point for me in more than 30 years of professional life was the Brexit vote.
There’s a myth that in Arab countries, they all like Palestinians. They don’t. On the contrary.
Since when is politics consistent?
The issue of migration has played a key role in all of our member states, wherever we are. Only we, as a European Union, can convince our citizens that we do have an answer to this – not deny migration, not pretend you can solve it by building fences and walls, not pretending we can solve it by letting everybody in.
I think in Trump’s view of the world, when the other person loses, he wins.
We need to wake up to idea that you cannot treat sport on equal terms with other parts of the economy.
Nationalism makes us poor because its Siamese twin, protectionism, will destroy the internal market and disrupt international trade.
It is a duty for any government to uphold the rule of law, and this sometimes requires the proportionate use of force.
Plastic waste is undeniably a big issue, and Europeans need to act together to tackle this problem because plastic waste ends up in our air, our soil, our oceans, and in our food.
If children knew what the effects are of using single-use plastic straws for drinking sodas or whatever, they might reconsider and use paper straws or no straws at all.
Nationalism is like alcoholism: a short period of exaltation followed by a long period of headaches.
I am a huge fan of the Premier League, but do you think it will maintain its attractiveness if the Champions League is only an affair between English clubs and one or two others?
The German car industry has a clear vision of the necessity of stability in the continent that goes beyond selling cars. For Germany, the economy is an instrument in a much wider issue of stability in continental Europe and overcoming the mistakes of the past.
If the law does not give you what you want, you can oppose the law, you can work to change the law, but you cannot ignore the law. So it is fundamental that the constitutions of every one of our member states are upheld and respected.
Whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Christian, or atheist, everybody has a place in this society.
The Netherlands believes in a vigorous Europe with a commission that is independent and robust.
I want Europe to go forward, not backward.
Responsible politicians should never indulge in nostalgia – it is too much of a distraction at a time when a rapidly changing world throws up so many challenges, when we need to keep our wits about us.
I find it unspeakably sad that the United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union.
Nationalism makes us weak because its eternal seeking of enemies, its disdain of others, its need to feel superior makes cooperation with other nations to collectively guarantee our freedom and security much more difficult.
I’m from Limburg, near the German border.
We need to be able to answer not yesterday’s challenges but to tomorrow’s challenges.
For me, arguably, the European Parliament is the best-functioning European institution. They are extremely good at law-making; they’re extremely good at finding compromise under pressure.
Let’s be clear: a nationalist is not a patriot.
In a free Europe… the system of power lies on three pillars. These are democracy, rule of law, and human rights. It’s impossible to use one against the other.
For all its shortcomings, European co-operation and integration has created an understanding of shared destiny. We no longer point guns at each other; we fight it out at a conference table. And we will continue to do so when the U.K. is no longer a member state but, I hope, still a friend.
Is it not in human nature sometimes, based on the facts that you now know, to reconsider?
The European Union is not unbreakable; something that is breakable is extremely valuable.
If you understand that we need a comprehensive approach to the migration issue, and only at European level, will this comprehensive approach be valuable and work. If we cannot convince our member states and citizens of that, then we will be in the same situation as the Dutch citizens were in 1581.
The European Union should come up with a solid plan to help especially Poland and Slovakia make this transition away from coal.
If you want to maintain the unique character of our sport in Europe, which is of great importance to millions of people, you need to be able to put associations in a position to protect the weaker clubs.
If nationalism makes us poor, weak, and morally insecure, how can it claim to be patriotic? I maintain that nationalists are unpatriotic.
Look at what the divisiveness of Brexit has done to the U.K.
The main actors on the world stage are the size of continents, be they nation states or voluntary groupings of nation states such as the E.U. Nostalgia can help us ignore these harsh realities for a while, but it will not make them go away.
