Quotes from George Papandreou

If Greece had gone through a very normal political life, I may have not been in politics. But just the fact that I lived through huge upheavals and very difficult struggles and polarization and the barbarism of dictatorships - that made me feel that we had to change this country.

There is this concept of politics as a dirty game. It's a difficult game, but it doesn't have to be dirty. I think this is what we need to bring to politics. I think politics around the world has very often been captured by big interests - 'lobbies' they call them in the States.

In ancient Greece, politics and the market were not decoupled.

I have always said I will be in politics to serve as best as I can and it will take me wherever it will take me.

At times of distress, we all like to recall the advice of fathers and mothers. The best advice my father gave me was to keep faith and deep confidence in the potential of the Greek people nurture the belief that they can do things.

The Marshall Plan was after destruction, and the U.S. came to our help and obviously this was very, very important for the future of Europe. I think now we have all the capabilities of doing it on our own and, in a sense, we have to.

I think there is a heritage which I'm proud of, which is a fight for democracy, a fight for social justice, a fight for freedom. My grandfather went to jail or exile six times in his life, fighting for his principles for democracy, or for his country. And my father twice.

The fact that we're going through a crisis is an opportunity for Europe to be more coordinated and more integrated. We're actually talking about a European Monetary Fund or euro bonds, about guarantees for countries, about economic governance in the European Union. That shows the strength of Europe.

My hope is that we will turn Greece into maybe the most transparent country in the world with everything on the web.

You can theorise about the options you have but in reality they are very specific.

The unemployed in Greece can get a voucher and choose a training program somewhere in Europe to be retrained during this crisis and when this crisis is over, we make sure that that person hasn't fallen off the cliff and can come back into the labor market with new skills to find a job.

Europe has a lot of strength. We need to pool that strength, and I am very much in favour of that - more of a deeper political union.

The fact that we're going through a crisis is an opportunity for Europe to be more coordinated and more integrated. We're actually talking about a European Monetary Fund or euro bonds, about guarantees for countries, about economic governance in the European Union. That shows the strength of Europe.

We stand united, facing the big responsibility to change our country into a nation of justice, solidarity, humanity and green development.

I have been supporting the European Union, but we are still a work in progress. We have to become more of a United States of Europe. We should talk about electing a president of the E.U., rather than having one selected from the heads of government.

I will always be upfront with the Greek people, so we can solve the country's problems together.

Politics also means educating people. It's important to speak openly with our fellow Greeks, to tell them what our problems are and that we have to change something.

Every leader wants to put his or her imprint on the work that they do, and grow up in specific eras.

The structures in Europe in a globalising economy need to be modernised, need to be more integrated, need to be stronger.

If Greece had gone through a very normal political life, I may have not been in politics. But just the fact that I lived through huge upheavals and very difficult struggles and polarization and the barbarism of dictatorships - that made me feel that we had to change this country.

I would like to see Greece as a case study, an opportunity for Europe to strengthen its coordination of fiscal policy.

We have made major reforms in Greece. When I took over after a landslide victory we had a mandate for change and I knew my major focus would be re-organizing the state.

If you put all the European countries together, we are the biggest economy in the world.