In political life, it is extremely difficult to remain loyal to a friendship when constellations of power or interests are in the way.

I am strictly against making cuts in the current budgetary period for things such as research funding and investments as a reaction to Brexit. I think that we can do an excellent job of explaining this to the German people.

We agree: Brussels can't regulate everything. I'm driven by something else: There are forces in Europe that want to generally give national policy priority over a common European approach. We have to prevent this.

When it comes to climate protection, the whole world will have to pay the price. But if Donald Trump intends to conclude a trade agreement with the EU, he will have to abide by our climate standards. In any case, waiving climate protection does not make American products more competitive.

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

Refugees cost us money too when they come to us. If we improve their living conditions in Turkey, we create an incentive for them to stay there and not to place their fates in the hands of smugglers.

I am critical of the fact that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is pulling out of everything - the joint approach to the refugee issue, for example. He cannot disparage his colleagues in the EU either - that's not how we treat each other. We require solidarity: in refugee policies, just as in the financial architecture of the structural funds from which countries like Hungary have strongly profited from for years.