“What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the alliances of all people and to lift us out of the economic morass into which we are sinking. Send us such a man, and be he god or devil, we will receive him.” Henri Spaak circa 1957-1960 Secretary General of NATO“**********The time has come to deepen economic and currency union“For this renewed push towards integration we need strong political leadership.” Deutsche Bank President 2011

http://www.cnbc.com/id/41015326

The European Central Bank intervened to prop up the euro zone bond markets on Monday as political leaders and bankers warned the debt crisis was deepening amid fears Portugal was edging closer to an international bail-out.

“The time has come to deepen economic and currency union,” Germany’s most influential banker said in a speech in Berlin late on Monday. “For this renewed push towards integration we need strong political leadership.”

Comment by Adamantine:

Possibly the EU will get its strong leadership soon. I am reminded of the supposed comment by a previous Secretary General of NATO:

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“What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the alliances of all people and to lift us out of the economic morass into which we are sinking. Send us such a man, and be he god or devil, we will receive him.”

Paul Henri Spaak

These words are attributed to “Henry Spaak; former Premier of Belgium; early planner of The European Common Market; Secretary of NATO” (not all of them say that he was supposed to have said this in 1957). Paul-Henri Spaak (1899-1972) was a real person  who played a major role in the founding of the EEC (later EU) and was Secretary-General of NATO from 1957 to 1961.

This quotation is unsourced on the websites and in most of the book entries. The trail seems to end with an author named Willard Cantelon.

http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=101;t=000329;p=0

About the author

Author and orator, Willard Theadore Cantelon (1916 – 1999) was well recognized for his three books on global economics, The Day the Dollar Dies, New Money or None,and Money Master of the World, and for years of lecturing at civic, university, and church gatherings. Cantelon’s works were dominated by a fascination with the ancient Biblical prophets, and conviction that their premonitory writings illuminated the dilemmas and crises of the modern age. Instead, however, of conjectured gloom, he foresaw, in these ancient texts, an epoch foretold, of world unity and peace, a prophetic worldview substantiated by both theological and historical criticism. This passionate vision permeated all of Cantelon’s published and spoken work.

The actions of the early Christian communities, and especially their reliance on the working of the Holy Spirit, as recorded in the documentation of the early Christian church, figured prominently among his interests, becoming the subject of a short study that distributed among a wide readership. Including questions and answers concerning a “second chapter of Acts” understanding of the Holy Spirit,The Gift of God was appreciated by both Catholic and Protestant readers alike. *