I want us to be able to preserve our level of prosperity. We must constantly remind ourselves that Germany has been eating into its capital. It is only through successful management that we can once again secure our foundation of prosperity and social security.

Thank [Barack Obama] for the friendship you've always demonstrated.

We have freedom to demonstrate in Germany, but there is no place for incitement and insulting people who come to us from other countries.

When it comes to human dignity, we cannot make compromises.

Alliances are part of our destiny as a nation, part of our future as a nation and this is what guides me in my policy, what guides my government as a whole.

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

When we, for example, see shifts of huge production lines from certain areas to other countries, people tend to ask the question, "Where's my place in this modern world?" We have this here, this tendency in our country, we have it in other countries.