The position of EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs could be combined with the office of Euro Group chairman. That job would be a great challenge for anyone who assumed it. On the one hand, he would have to make proposals. On the other hand, he would have to negotiate compromises with his European counterparts.

The European family may well be anything but perfect.

The European Union has decades of experience in overcoming crises and has always emerged stronger after.

I have always considered it to be a minor miracle that after the war, people in Europe's border regions were able to forget everything and, in accordance with the slogan "Never Again War," develop a program that still works today.

How will the exit affect thousands of British pensioners living in Portugal or Spain who will lose their access to the welfare and health systems? Fifty-three free-trade agreements, which were negotiated by the EU on behalf of all Member States, are also hanging in the balance for the UK.

I'm always quite amazed that people in Europe become unnerved when two institutions or two people have different views.

In politics, there are different categories of friendship. My friendship with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, for example .