What do you do when other countries' intelligence agencies give you information and you aren't entirely certain about its source? Simply ignore it? That's impossible. We have a duty to guarantee the safety of our citizens.

An institution like Guantanamo in its present form cannot and must not exist in the long term. We must find different ways of dealing with prisoners. As far as I'm concerned there's no question about that.

If it's in the German interest to have good trans-Atlantic relations, well, the task is also to look ahead, but our personal - that we have freedom of movement in the whole of Germany so if we want to see each other, well, I'm game.

On Russia, I can only repeat what the president [Barack Obama] said. This is all about respecting certain principles, and I'm saying this from a European vantage point, from a European, from a German vantage point, sorry, the fact that for over 70 years we have been able to enjoy peace.

This (multicultural) approach has failed, utterly failed.

We think of cannabis as a drug, in accordance with international opinions. This means that even consuming small amounts can lead to very severe dependence. With alcohol or cigarettes however, sensibly limited consumption does not bear the risk of immediate addictiveness as this is the case with cannabis according to our opinion. With alcohol there surely is an element of a tradition. However, enjoyed in moderation, as supplement to a meal for example, alcohol is not something that causes immediate dependence. Still, there is a great need for prevention and information in this matter.

Always be more than you appear and never appear to be more than you are.