Top 136 Quotes & Sayings by Jean-Claude Juncker

The Luxembourg financial centre is based on several pillars, we are characterised by the breadth of our product range, we are an active participant in the international credit business.

The U.K. decided to leave the E.U. - Brexit means Brexit.

It is not acceptable that European Union countries are divided into those who give and those who take.

I believe that if we don't offer legal ways of emigrating to Europe and immigrating within Europe, we will be lost. If those who come - who are, generally speaking, the poor and needy - are no longer able to enter the house of Europe through the front door, they'll keep making their way in through the back windows.

Being described as a stupid bureaucrat with no link to representative democracy is difficult to take.

The populists are spreading slogans. We have to offer solutions and answers.

Europe has to be about more than market, goods, and money.

We do not attract Russian money to Luxembourg with high interest rates.

Anyone who believes that the eternal question of war and peace in Europe is no longer there risks being deeply mistaken.

Of course Brexit means that something is wrong in Europe. But Brexit means also that something was wrong in Britain.

Our idea is to make the U.K. a privileged partner of the E.U.

This was a continent of divisions, of wars, of conflicts, of divergences, differences... When I am in Asia, in Africa, people admire what we have managed to do. Europe is beautiful seen from other continents.

If we allow Catalonia - and it is none of our business - to separate, others will do the same. I do not want that.

My main concern is to protect people from detriment.

The populists themselves are dangerous, but they are far more dangerous when the traditional, classic parties adopt their harmful proposals.

We decide on something, leave it lying around, and wait and see what happens. If no one kicks up a fuss, because most people don't understand what has been decided, we continue step by step until there is no turning back.

Forgetting the importance of national landscapes, cultures, national behaviours, reactions, and reflexes is a big, big mistake.

I am strictly against a European superstate.

The rule of law means that law and justice are upheld by an independent judiciary. The judgments of the European Court of Justice have to be respected by all. To undermine them, or to undermine the independence of national courts, is to strip citizens of their fundamental rights. The rule of law is not optional in the European Union. It is a must.

From the very beginning, Europe has been not only a success story but also a story of success achieved by learning.

God understands more about the financial markets than many who write about them.

The European Union has decades of experience in overcoming crises and has always emerged stronger after.

However painful or regrettable Brexit may be, it will not stop the E.U. as it moves to the future; we need to move forward.

If someone complains about Europe from Monday to Saturday, then nobody is going to believe him on Sunday when he says he is a convinced European.

In a union of equals, there can be no second-class consumers. I will not accept that in some parts of Europe, people are sold food of lower quality than in other countries, despite the packaging and branding being identical.

As complicated and complex and as difficult as we are, the unity of Europe is a pre-condition for a better organized world, and if the European Union would fail or decompose, or other members left, the U.S. would have a more difficult role to play in the world.

I have met in my life two big destroyers: Gorbachev, who destroyed the Soviet Union, and Cameron, who destroyed the United Kingdom to some extent, even if there is no wave of Scotland to become independent.

We shouldn't persuade people that we can simply conjure up the sun and the moon: at the most, we can deliver a telescope.

I am against nationalists, but I am very much in favour of patriots.

Europe must not distance itself from Africa's universal ambitions.

The European family may well be anything but perfect. But it is the best thing that we have for bringing the countries of Europe around the same table and for forging compromises so that people here can live in peace, freedom, and prosperity.

No, we should not be afraid of the populists; we should embrace those they are fighting.

I am not a dwarf.

In 1913 many believed that there would never again be a war in Europe. The great powers of the continent were so closely intertwined economically that the view was widespread that they could no longer afford to have military confrontations.

Article 50 governs the exit from the European Union and here there can also be no renegotiation.

I notice with a certain sense of regret that far too many Europeans are returning to a regional and national mindset.

You can't deepen the European Union against the wishes of the European countries.

Decisions can only be reached in Europe if France and Germany agree.

I'm convinced that, in the long term, a monetary union includes a joint debt policy under strict, mutually agreed upon conditions.

I believe neither the French nor the Dutch really rejected the constitutional treaty.

I am chilled by the realization of how similar circumstances in Europe in 2013 are to those of 100 years ago.

We must go back to teach Europeans to love Europe.

It is not more Europe or less Europe that we need. We need a better Europe.

I am for secret, dark debates.

A united Europe is our Continent's only chance to avoid falling off the world's radar. The heads of government of Germany, France and the United Kingdom also know that their voice is only heard internationally because they speak through the megaphone of the European Union.

When it becomes serious, you have to lie.

The will of the British people must now be put into effect as quickly as possible. Under Article 50 of the EU Treaty the UK must leave the European Union within two years at the latest.

There is a proposal to divide the currency zone into a north and a south euro. There is also the idea of setting up a core monetary union in the middle of Europe. I disapprove of these debates. Instead, we should devote all of our efforts to supplementing the monetary union with a political union.

Trump is a partner for us who cannot be easily categorized. Putting it in the noblest way possible, his understanding of politics is a little different from ours here in Europe. The way he acts forces us Europeans to take on a new responsibility. We are not standing with our backs up against the wall, but, to put it as pithily as the German chancellor has: We can no longer rely on the U.S. the way we could in the past.

You can consider this carved in stone: I rule out becoming Herman Van Rompuy's successor.

I have known a great many politicians who have not managed to stay in power for 16 years. I have nevertheless already managed to remain at the helm for 18 years. I still want to achieve a great many things for my country. Experience is not a disadvantage here, especially as the head of government of a small country in a European setting that has become more difficult.

Much as I would have liked to respond factually and truthfully to each and every piece of misinformation spread by the Brexit campaign, it was important that I stayed out of the domestic political debate. It was David Cameron's task to win the UK referendum, not ours.

I'm ready to be insulted as being insufficiently democratic, but I want to be serious ... I am for secret, dark debates.

One shouldn't pursue the wrong policies just because one is afraid of not being reelected. Those who intend to govern have to take responsibility for their countries and for Europe as a whole. This means, if need be, that they have to pursue the right policies, even if many voters think they are the wrong ones.

It's important to recognize that we in Europe will either succeed together or fail together.

Since it took up office, the Commission which I lead has pursued a clear policy: we need less interference from Brussels when it comes to the things that Member States can deal with better on their own. That is why we no longer regulate oil cans or showerheads, but concentrate instead on what we can do better together rather than alone - such as tackling the refugee crisis or securing our external borders. Only in that way can we make people feel that Europe makes a tangible difference.

I have another explanation [of Brexit]: In its 43 years of EU membership, Britain has never been able to decide whether it wants to fully or only partially belong to the EU.

When the going gets tough, you have to lie.

In Europe, even more so than in national politics, we have to follow the principle laid down by Martin Luther: Use language that the people will understand, but don't just tell them what they want to hear.

But anyone who believes that the eternal issue of war and peace in Europe has been permanently laid to rest could be making a monumental error. The demons haven't been banished; they are merely sleeping, as the wars in Bosnia and Kosovo have shown us.