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"This revision of the Constitution will not be perfect. But at least the Constitution will not be inflexible. It will be a step towards the Social Europe which we wish."
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"Our constitution protects aliens, drunks and U.S. Senators."
"This is what you get when you found a political system on the family values of Henry VIII. At a point in the not-too-remote future, the stout heart of Queen Elizabeth II will cease to beat. At that precise moment, her firstborn son will become head of state, head of the armed forces, and head of the Church of England. In strict constitutional terms, this ought not to matter much. The English monarchy, as has been said, reigns but does not rule. From the aesthetic point of view it will matter a bit, because the prospect of a morose bat-eared and chinless man, prematurely aged, and with the most abysmal taste in royal consorts, is a distinctly lowering one."
"And the president is all wrong when he maintains that a nominee should have an up-or-down vote. The Constitution doesn't say that. The Constitution doesn't say that that nominee shall have any vote at all. There doesn't have to even be a vote."
"Most faults are not in our Constitution, but in ourselves."
"The right to be let alone is the underlying principle of the Constitution's Bill of Rights."
"I believe realism is nothing but an analysis of reality. Film scripts have a synthetical constitution."
"The miners lost because they had only the constitution. The other side had bayonets. In the end, bayonets always win."
"The relationship between press and politician - protected by the Constitution and designed to be happily adversarial - becomes sour, raw and confrontational."
"Drafting a constitution is only the first step. The constitution has to be granted legitimacy by open discussion and a fair, representative referendum."
"I prefer a man who will burn the flag and then wrap himself in the Constitution to a man who will burn the Constitution and then wrap himself in the flag."
Explore more quotes by Laurent Fabius
"The demographic weight of countries such as China and India exercise a massive pressure on our wages and salaries. They have accomplished massive technological advances and the revolution in information technology has reduced the costs of transport."
"The single currency should allow the European Union, and therefore France, to balance its monetary strength with the United States. It should help us adjust to the development of China."
"But Maastricht was not the end of history. It was a first step towards a Europe of growth, of employment, a social Europe. That was the vision of Francois Mitterrand. We are far from that now."
"I am a partisan and artisan of Europe. But I draw the lessons of my experience in government."
"France on its own cannot impose its point of view. But neither should it give up on its demands. With a clear vote for change France will be in a strong position."
"I want to make an extremely strong appeal to those who abstained. Vote. It takes five minutes and then it's for five years."
"There are 20 million unemployed and what does the Constitution offer us in the Europe of 25, 27 and soon to be 30: policies of unrestricted competition to the detriment of production, wages, research and innovation."
"For a long time many believed that there would be an automatic adjustment and counted on a rapid increase in the wages of the emerging nations, on our advances in technology and the costs of transport preventing disruption. But this reassuring analysis is out of date."
"At the same time the Constitution sets in stone the Stability Pact and risks preventing member States from implementing a policy of growth. So we are not able to do things at the European or the national level."
"This revision of the Constitution will not be perfect. But at least the Constitution will not be inflexible. It will be a step towards the Social Europe which we wish."
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