Finance Ministers

"I was going to say he's a piece of work, but that might not translate too well. Is that all right, if I call you a 'piece of work'?"

"Every fourth euro spent within the EU budget will go towards action to mitigate climate change... I am glad to see that young people are taking to the streets in Europe to raise visibility of the issue of climate change."

"I have a lot of understanding for people skeptical about the EU. Because there are legitimate questions to the address about the European Union, including the Commission. You have to answer that. You have to talk to the Eurosceptic people. By the way, sometimes I am myself, I am not free from Euroscepticism sometimes. But I am not on the way to fundamental opposition."

"The constitutional treaty was an easily understandable treaty. This is a simplified treaty which is very complicated.""

"I am determined, as is the Government, to do everything to preserve everything that we have worked for and that we believe in … by using all necessary means to fend off the hostile (bid)."

"If it's a Yes, we will say 'on we go', and if it's a No we will say 'we continue'."

"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."

"I am astonished at those who are afraid of the people: one can always explain that what is in the interest of Europe is in the interests of our countries." "Britain is different. Of course there will be transfers of sovereignty. But would I be intelligent to draw the attention of public opinion to this fact?" "There is a single legal personality for the EU, the primacy of European law, a new architecture for foreign and security policy, there is an enormous extension in the fields of the EU's powers, there is Charter of Fundamental Rights."

"Nederland is een verdraagzaam land met respect voor elkaars mening. Die mag je bestrijden met woorden, niet met kogels."

"“The spirit of our age is Democracy. All for the people, and all by the people. Nothing about the people without the people… My nation will rise, called to resurrection by the eternal principles of the law of nature and of nature’s God. It will not lie in the grave longer than the holy number three, and will require your magnanimity by becoming the corner-stone of national independence on the European Continent.”"

"For the first time after a long period we meet with a truly revolutionary figure, a man who in the name of his people dares to accept the challenge of a desperate struggle, who for his nation is Danton and Carnot in one person — Lajos Kossuth."

"History is the revelation of providence."

"As long as I am running this Government I will run the Government as I see fit...as I believe in, based on my philosophy."

"I've come up through the ranks of this parliamentary party and let me tell you the principles that have guided me on that journey since my first election 25 years ago: Loyalty to the party, service to our country and a determination to always do my best for the people. They are principles that still guide me."

"I believe it is the best method to get the buy-in for the road we have to travel. I believe it is a problem-solving process about how we collectively come forward with a strategy to deal with the issue."

"That deterioration, if you like, has to be addressed in the context of the Government being prepared to look at further programmes to see what way we can ensure that going into next year, as challenging as it may be, to see in what way we can seek to help stabilise the finances further."

"We have seen already how resistant public opinion is, firstly to comprehension of the new paradigm in which we have to operate; and secondly, to the rationale behind the decisions we have had to take."

"Hopefully that will be seen as a response, a leadership responding to an issue and therefore one's authority, while it's not as high if you didn't have the problem, it does mean that people say 'well he used his authority to come up with a solution in double-quick time that met with broader public acceptance."

"We need to get a handle on this, will you ring those fuckers."

"Yeah, well, there's a mirror in the toilet if you want to go in there and talk to them."

"However, we must not lose sight of the fact that the fundamentals of the economy are still good."

"I think it is fair to say that 2007 represents a turning point for the Irish economy."

"There were a couple of occasions when it was passed around – and, unlike President Clinton, I did inhale!."

"' I was reared in a pub – as a young fellow, serving in the pub I learnt far more there about human nature than I learnt in any university or school. I think it gave me a great insight into people."

"I know that some people in the U.S. associate the Nordic model with some sort of socialism... Therefore, I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy... The Nordic model is an expanded welfare state which provides a high level of security to its citizens, but it is also a successful market economy with much freedom to pursue your dreams and live your life as you wish."

"It is my ambition that parents can send their children to school with the prospects that they are as interested and excited to learn on their last day of school as they were on the very first."

"Growth and prosperity. These are the blocks with which we must build our welfare society."

"Global Warming knows no border. It does not discriminate. It affects us all. And we are here today, because we are all committed to take action."

"Governments of developing countries sometimes proposed projects that did not directly benefit the population, but did benefit the government; the so-called 'white elephants'. For example, they wanted to build highways and build large buildings, while we thought it was better to focus on good education."

"During the Cold War, a division arose between Western and Communist countries. The countries that had just become independent after colonial times had to be kept on friendly terms. That is why Belgium offered development aid to those countries. The government also supported the work of the missionaries who were active in Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, among others."

"The Belgian government's apologies to Lumumba's family are beside the point. According to the current foreign minister, Louis Michel, the then government should have insisted on a fair trial for Lumumba. But there was no government in Congo then, only chaos. The army mutinied through the provinces, Belgian troops were no longer there, only United Nations soldiers. They should have performed."

"I think King Baudouin was not dissatisfied with the disappearance of the man who broke off the 80-year-old relations between Belgium and Congo."

"Europe is an economic giant, a political dwarf, and a military worm."

"The journey was a real triumph. To the Congolese, he almost seemed like an extraterrestrial apparition. The reception was very warm and soon Boudewijn was nicknamed "Bwana Kitoko", "beautiful young man". The young king had a very good feeling about his first Congo experience. Some say it was the first time he laughed in public."

"China is operating in Congo in a brutal way that smacks of slavery. Congolese work in mines for very low wages. China is not concerned with sustainability and often commits a predatory economy. The country also does not respect human rights. Still, the developing country's government is letting itself be wrapped up, because the Chinese don't make moral demands like the West does. China works with a closed stock exchange in Congo. For example, they build 20 schools in exchange for being able to operate 10 copper mines for 1 year. But that is often peasant deception: the value of the school buildings is sometimes only 10% of the value of the extracted raw materials."

"The population of the African continent is expected to grow from 1 to 4 billion people in the next 100 years. This will cause a huge influx of refugees. When you are poor and get older, you need many children to support yourself. The best means of contraception is an increase in prosperity. If we invest enough in Africa now, we can slow down population growth and Africans don't have to come here to survive. Thus charity is also in one's own interest."

"It is difficult to stop aid for human rights violations without the population suffering. That is why we continued to offer help through reliable NGOs. Preference was given to Belgian NGOs, because the domestic NGOs were often under the influence of the Congolese government. The importance of human rights has only increased, partly due to the introduction of the International Criminal Court, which tackles violations of human rights."

"Government must immediately provide funds to ramp up production in India and increase supplies. Government must also authorise the use of more approved vaccines and allow their manufacture or import."

"Chidambaram was the first big leader to give credence of the hypothesis of Hindu terror at an official level. While chairing a meeting of state police chiefs on 25 August 2010, he termed ‘saffron terror’ as a major threat to the nation. He drew flak for giving prominence to left-wing insurgency and the alleged Hindu terrorism over Jihadi terrorism during the meeting. It was the time when the line of investigation of the NIA investigation was completely changed and anti-Hindu propaganda was in full swing."

"What the finance minister has done is give petty, and usually corrupt, officials the right to march into your home or mine and take it over if according to his assessment, we haven’t paid enough taxes….we never before had a Finance Minister who believes he has the fundamental right to trample upon our rights in the name of tax collection. The most they did in the past was ‘raid’ those they suspected of evading taxes. A barbaric enough practice in a country that fancies itself as civilised, but baby stuff compared to what Chidambaram now orders his goons to do….the Finance Minister has also decided that tax inspectors will be held responsible if they fail to ‘attach’ in advance the property of a possible defaulter. Draconian is too mild a word for what the Finance Minister is up to, but we must remember that this is the man who once gave us TADA and the Defamation Bill. There are other reasons to fight for our right to property, and they concern the poorest of the poor. Because Indians do not have the right to own property, policemen and municipal officials routinely confiscate and destroy property belonging to pavement hawkers, rickshawallahs and streetchildren. These are people who constitute what our politicians like to call the ‘weakest sections’ of the society, so let us have no qualms in acknowledging that the Prime Minister’s move to introduce reservations for ‘weaker sections’ in private companies is for political and not compassionate reasons. Had any Prime Minister one ounce of compassion for the ‘weaker sections’, he would have arrested officials and policemen who steal from pavement hawkers and rickshawallahs….Meanwhile, I have a proposition for P Chidambaram. If he insists on going ahead with the mad idea, then let us begin in Parliament. Let every Member of Parliament’s declaration of assets be scrutinised not just by the Finance Ministry’s unreliable policemen but us. Let us find out how men who began their career in politics with a few hundred rupees to their name became owners of lakhs and crores worth of assets. I am willing to bet that men who have declared themselves worth only a couple of lakhs will be wearing watches that cost more than that. Let us set up a citizen’s tribunal before which the MPs can appear and have their assets publicly scrutinised. Let us ask them the sort of questions tax inspectors ask when they barge into people’s homes: How much is that shawl, that pair of shoes, that bangle for? Who paid for these things? Where are the bills? Can you prove they were heirlooms? If not, we hereby attach your property. If our elected representatives are prepared to go through with this kind of exercise and if our ministers and wives also come forward to explain how they acquired their crores worth of assets, then it would be fair for the Finance Minister to go ahead with the draconian new measures. Otherwise, it is time he woke up to the reality that India is no longer an economic dictatorship, and can never be. All he will achieve through his madcap schemes is to widen the roads of corruption. The only people who must be thrilled by his new measures are the tax inspectors. Does P Chidambaram not understand this?"

". “Yes he has been arrested for raising his voice agst PM Modi for his illegal acts in Kashmir by scraping the sp status of Kashmir. He raised his voice in favour of oppressed Kashmiris. Note it Mr Chidambaram is going to be ur next PM. He is capable politician.”"

"We have a duopoly of two vaccines, but they are hardly sufficient to vaccinate a nation of 138 crore people."

"It is the vaccine or vaccines that will win the war against COVID-19, not the government or mythological beliefs."

"“What will India do if Pakistan designates August 15 as ‘Partition Horrors Condemnation Day’?” “Hostility apart, India and Pakistan are neighbours. We can change our friends but we cannot change our neighbours. India should behave as a mature and seasoned nation.”"

"I strongly condemn the statement of a BJP leader and a Member of Parliament that the BJP has come here to eradicate ‘Periyarism’ (Periyar policy) in Tamil Nadu. Father Periyar was the one who fought and won against the poisonous policy of ‘Sanatana Dharma’."

"It is shocking, It is quite obvious that security of the Sri Lankan players has been hopelessly inadequate. We condemn the shooting and we hope that players like Samaraweera and Mendis are safe and will recover."

"It (Pakistan) is not a failed state, but it is threatening to become one.A great concern is weighing on our minds. In Pakistan, with regret, I would say we don't know who is in control there. Whether it is the army or the president or the government"

"This is complete rubbish. They did this a month and a half ago when there was another incident. We want peace in South Asia. We want no terror in South Asia. We don't export terror. We have zero tolerance for terror whether it is within India or outside India. Pakistan is only taking half measures in the fight against terrorism. Pakistan is paying the price for not heeding our advice."

"Normally, foreign media organizations and others from the developed countries do not see anything good on the African continent. Those of us, who are well-traveled, know better. In their countries, the only news you get or hear about Africa is negative news... However, due to the good work done by our electoral bodies, the exemplary conduct of our defence and security organs, and your calmness and patience, we denied them the bad things they wanted to write about."

"The fact that we have been forgiven our debts does not mean that our president has to use the donkey as a means of travel. Does this also mean we can't buy clothes and therefore walk naked?"