It is a fact that, if I single out Germany, our rate of growth is too low and we have very high unemployment.

Belong purportedly to certain groups say, "We are the people and not the others." That is something that we cannot allow to happen. That is something that I think at the time in the GDR - at the time when we had this in the GDR, where the people stood in the street and said, "We are the people," that is something that filled me with great joy.

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.

As a woman with strong opinions talking about technology and politics is not always welcome in Germany. Nope, it's more like having a great cheerleader team behind me. People who follow my journey know I have a slightly colorful personality. The rest skipped out long ago.

I would like to see Russia develop as democratically as possible. But when we judge Russia we must also consider where the country is coming from. Our concepts of democracy can't just be schematically transferred. However, I do admit that I'm concerned about some recent developments, such as the new laws against non-governmental organizations.

No bank should be allowed to become so big that it can blackmail governments.

The land of unlimited opportunity was for me, for a long time, impossible to reach. The wall, barbed wire and the order to shoot at those who tried to leave limited my access to the free world.