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

I wouldn't like Greece to stay recession. I do think that everything has to be undertaken to reconnect with growth.

There can be no doubt that, with the United Kingdom, we will lose a very market-oriented voice.

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.

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 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.

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