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.

Look at the European Parliament. There are a lot of people who are looking for simplistic solutions, for - who are sort of preaching policies of - well, very unfriendly policies.

The digital world creates situation where there are no secrets anymore.

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.

One can remain more sure-footed by taking small steps, but perhaps achieve greater speed by taking bigger steps. Of course, one also runs the risk of setting out in a completely erroneous direction. Surely the important thing isn't the length of our steps, but that the objective is clear.

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.

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.