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.

A good compromise is one where everybody makes a contribution.

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.

From a German point of view, German-American and European-American relations are a pillar of our foreign policy.

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

The plurality of German campaign formats, including the televised debates, reflect that we in Germany don't directly vote for a person like in the United States or in France, but for parties. We have a different system.

It is actually a very good thing, if after eight years of coverage the president of the United States [Barack Obama] says that this is a cooperation based on friendship that we cooperated well.