We can't constantly explain to our voters that taxpayers have to be on the hook for certain risks, rather than those who make a lot of money taking those risks.

I am thankful for all the hard times I've been through and all the tears I've cried because that has put me as closer to God and made me the strong woman I am today!

The real problem is that the financial base for our social security system is shrinking because the number of normal jobs is falling. In other words, we have to address the challenge of how to make employment, in the classic sense, attractive once again.

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 never underestimated myself. And I never saw anything wrong with ambition.

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.

My life changed completely in 1989 with the fall of the wall.