I am in favor of the European institutions being led for the next two-and-a-half years as they have been thus far. We need stability.

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.

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

Here in Brussels, we did everything to accommodate David Cameron's concerns. My collaborators and I personally spent countless days and nights negotiating an agreement that was fair toward the United Kingdom and toward the other 27 Member States. I was then very surprised to see that this settlement played no role whatsoever in the campaign in the United Kingdom. At the same time it is hardly surprising.

The way some German politicians have lashed out at Greece when the country fell into the crisis has left deep wounds there. I was just as shocked by the banners of protesters in Athens that showed the German chancellor in a Nazi uniform.

Article 50 governs the exit from the European Union and here there can also be no renegotiation.

I am chilled by the realization of how similar circumstances in Europe in 2013 are to those of 100 years ago.