Our relationship with the United States is not reduced to questions of fighting terrorism and the Iraq war. German-American relations were so good for so many years because they extended deeply into the normal lives of people.

To be serious, if we were only interested in earning big money then a politician would have to go and work in industry.

The markets want to force us to do certain things. That we won't do. Politicians have to make sure that we're unassailable, that we can make policy for the people.

There are a lot of areas where we cooperate, fight against ISIL, for example. Here, Germany was able to contribute to a certain extent in certain areas.

I'm very grateful that Barack Obama as president very much put protection of privacy on the agenda today, due to the fact of Islamist terrorism all over the world.

If Europe today accounts for just over 7 per cent of the world's population, produces around 25 per cent of global GDP and has to finance 50 per cent of global social spending, then it's obvious that it will have to work very hard to maintain its prosperity and way of life.

I approach this with - with an open mind and I'll do it on the basis of a deep conviction with President-elect Donald Trump.