The Greek nation has to be respected. I am not in the camp of those who openly want to humiliate Greece.

In the end, the British didn't vote to leave because of the euro. They're not even members of the currency union. Even the refugee crisis hardly affected the country.

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

You can consider this carved in stone: I rule out becoming Herman Van Rompuy's successor.

I have no doubt that the U.S., even under Trump, will stick to the mutual defense commitment in the NATO treaty in the event of an emergency. Trump described NATO as being obsolete during his election campaign, but he made clear afterward that he considers the alliance to be an indispensable necessity.

I don't think in national categories. For me it [policy] is about concepts and substance.

Now people are criticizing Europe, the European Commission, Juncker and the whole lot because the distribution of refugees didn't succeed immediately. But you also have to recognize that close to 20,000 refugees have already been redistributed. There are only a few member states that do not want to take part.