There are surely people in London who would love to play us off against each other. That would be disastrous for the EU.

The problem with us EU politicians is that we approach everything with cool rationality, and then wonder why we don't win people over emotionally.

The principles of the SPD have remained the same for 150 years: democracy, human dignity, justice and inclusion. We will never change those principles.

Gerhard Schröder offered a clear German NEIN to an American president's war of aggression that was in violation of international law. That took courage. Ms. Merkel did not join him at the time. If Trump now begins to take the wrecking ball to our set of values, we must say clearly: That is not our approach.

There are surely people in London who would love to play us off against each other. That would be disastrous for the EU.

I'm not a populist. But I try to present complicated issues in such a way that people know where I stand.

Referendums are a democratic instrument, but so are decisions reached in a parliamentary democracy. I advise extreme caution when it comes to referendums. In Germany too.