I'm not suffering from withdrawal symptoms. I would say that I have a balanced state of mind.

I'm ready to be insulted as being insufficiently democratic, but I want to be serious ... I am for secret, dark debates.

I notice with a certain sense of regret that far too many Europeans are returning to a regional and national mindset.

There is a distorted perception of what goes on in Brussels. No one reports on the Commission taking a hundred initiatives from its predecessor off the table in order to shift competencies back to member state governments.

God understands more about the financial markets than many who write about them.

Angela Merkel did the right thing. Her decision and the extraordinary willingness of the German people to take in refugees conveyed an image of Germany that is still having positive repercussions today. Unfortunately, people in Germany are no longer seeing that.

Now it is firstly a matter of a clean divorce, because citizens and companies need legal certainty. Can there be a new partnership with the United Kingdom one day? All 27 Member States would have to agree to that. And the United Kingdom would first have to reflect on what it wants itself.