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

I think we live in a period of profound transformation. Very similar to when we had a transition from agricultural societies to industrial societies.

The fact that people have hijacked it is certainly not something that fills me with great joy. We have to find new ways of addressing people, new ways of getting into contact with people.

The Freedom Bell in Berlin is, like the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, a symbol which reminds us that freedom does not come about of itself. It must be struggled for and then defended anew every day of our lives.

We have very stable mechanisms of conflict resolution in terms of labor relations, we have a very good transportation infrastructure, we provide our children with an excellent education and the gap between rich and poor in Germany is relatively narrow. On the other hand, we have trouble accepting change.

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

Our bilateral relations are very good, they’re very close. In the areas of business, of the economy, the United States of America last year were our most important trading partner.