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

As a human being I am personally saddened, as I have a great deal of respect for the large number of British colleagues I have worked with over the years. That is why I personally invested countless hours, days and nights, in negotiating a fair deal for the United Kingdom.

Many in Germany are saying that Macron should be helped. That's also how I see it. But Germany cannot solve France's problems. The French president and his government will have to seriously knuckle down in order to pull France out of its slump.

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

It's important to recognize that we in Europe will either succeed together or fail together.

I'm convinced that, in the long term, a monetary union includes a joint debt policy under strict, mutually agreed upon conditions.

Stories are invented: Juncker wants to introduce the euro everywhere or immediately deepen the EU - although I publicly stated the opposite that same day.