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.

Decisions can only be reached in Europe if France and Germany agree.

Trump knows that he is encountering a complete lack of understanding in Europe, but it's apparent that he's not very impressed by it. My experience, however, has been that American presidents take a greater interest in Europe over the course of their term.

I was never presented with the details as far as the collective bargaining system is Greece. I am in favor of a normal system without giving the labour minister the right to extend the results to extend the result of the collective bargaining to the whole of the real economy. The government has to make sure that the results will not harm the situation of small and medium enterprises.

I like Macron a lot and I very much welcome him - particularly the fact that he made Europe one of the main topics of the election debate.

I have another explanation [of Brexit]: In its 43 years of EU membership, Britain has never been able to decide whether it wants to fully or only partially belong to the EU.

In the highest government office, you have to be ready to bow out at any time, otherwise you are not a free individual anymore.