A Quote by Margaret Thatcher

What we should grasp, however, from the lessons of European history is that, first, there is nothing necessarily benevolent about programmes of European integration; second, the desire to achieve grand utopian plans often poses a grave threat to freedom; and third, European unity has been tried before, and the outcome was far from happy.

Margaret Thatcher

Quote Topics

About Achieve Been Before Benevolent Desire Desire To Achieve European European History European Integration Far First Freedom Grand Grasp Grave Happy History However Integration Lessons Necessarily Nothing Often Outcome Plans Poses Programmes Second Should Third Threat Tried Unity Utopian

Quote Author

Margaret Thatcher
English - Leader
October 13, 1925 - April 8, 2013

The desire to achieve grand utopian plans often poses a grave threat to freedom.

Margaret Thatcher

The development of European integration can be divided into two phases. The first era ended with the Maastricht Treaty. It was a liberalization phase, with the main goal of European integration at the time being the removal of various barriers and borders in Europe. The second phase is a homogenization or standardization phase, one that involves regulation from the top and growing control over our lives. This no longer has anything to do with freedom and democracy.

Vaclav Klaus

My objective is that before the end of the millennium Europe should have a true federation. The Commission should become a political executive which can define essential common interests... responsible before the European Parliament and before the nation-states represented how you will, by the European Council or by a second chamber of national parliaments.

Jacques Delors

How can we later criticise other countries outside the European Union for adopting such measures to repress opponents when we are tolerating this inside the European Union with European citizens? Like me - I'm a European citizen.

Carles Puigdemont

It is clear that Germany needs a foreign policy in which we jointly define European interests. Thus far, we have often defined European values, but we have been much too weak in defining mutual interests. To preempt any possible misunderstandings: We cannot give short shrift to our values of freedom, democracy and human rights.

Sigmar Gabriel

foreign policy is about trying to project the European model, its values, its principles, to the outside world. But at the moment, the European model is not as fascinating and as attractive as it may have been a few years ago. We have to be aware of this and take it into account when we try to promote our European system.

Pierre Vimont

Let's not underestimate the European Union. You know what united Europe? Values. And that's why I am absolutely sure about the unity of the European Union and its solidarity with Ukraine.

Petro Poroshenko

Membership in the European Community, now the European Union, has helped Ireland to take its place as a European country with all the member states, including Britain. It has therefore helped the maturing of a good bilateral relationship with Britain, lifting part of the burden of history.

Mary Robinson

Around 1960, I moved back to Europe, attracted by the newly founded European Organization for Nuclear Research where, for the first time, the idea of a joint European effort in a field of pure science was to be tried in practice.

Carlo Rubbia

EU tech companies face massive global competitors from Silicon Valley and China. Our goal should be to create real European champions and not to focus on a narrow competition between European states. I strongly believe the European Union can help a lot there by promoting a homogeneous and startup-friendly framework that could help European digital champions to become truly global.

Axelle Lemaire

As a European Union member state, as a country committed throughout all its history to the fight for the values that I have made my own, as the fifth world power, as a country that has marked my life and European Union houses part of European Union, France can act if it wishes to do so.

Julian Assange

Road testing the effects of regulation on European business must become second nature to the European Union.

John Hutton

If you trace the history of Islamist terrorism, you see that its founders were great admirers of European fascism. They read the texts of European fascism, they quoted them in speeches and letters. This is not from the Koran - the Koran doesn't teach you how to repress people; there's nothing in there about women having to cover their faces, there's certainly nothing about suicide bombing.

Bernard-Henri Levy

In the E.U., the initiation of policy comes from the European Commission - not the European parliament, the European Commission, an appointed body; a committee of 27 countries where everything is haggled away.

Steve Hilton

European Union partners never said European Union partners're going to renege on any promises, European Union partners said that European Union partners promises concern a four-year parliamentary term, european Union partners will be spaced out in an optimal way, in a way that is in tune with our bargaining stance in Europe and also with the fiscal position of the Greek state.