The full veil is not appropriate for Germans, and should be banned wherever legally possible.

If I may, to underline first of all that I am very much impressed that in spite of the very tough election campaign, this transition period in the United States of America follows democratic principles and is all about the American people. It's about the destiny of the American people.

In Europe it is particularly important that we build good relations to everyone who holds political responsibility because Europe can only be build together.

Ever since Germany was able to regain its unity, it is in an even stronger position to give its contribution to upholding this order to which we feel committed and for which particularly people in the German Democratic Republic stood out there on the streets to keep this up, to maintain this order.

The European Union and the United States of America are the big important economic areas for us, which is why I always have come up strongly in favor of concluding a trade agreement with the United States of America.

The full veil is not appropriate for Germans, and should be banned wherever legally possible.

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.