I'm fully aware that my vision of a European bicameral parliament can't be implemented tomorrow. I'm also not an integration fanatic.

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.

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

I am grateful to the Germans in general, particularly those who displayed unending dedication to the refugees and who continue to do so.

Complementing the nation-state as it reaches its limits amid globalization: That is what Europe must offer.

Keeping quiet and letting the others do the talking. That may be Angela Merkel's method, but it's not mine.

I know people's problems: the problems of those who work hard, who must slave away. The couples who have two incomes but who can nevertheless barely cover their rent. The people who get stuck in traffic on their way to work. The people who have to wait in vain for a train to come just as they are supposed to be picking up their children from daycare. I can say with a clear conscience to those people: I understand your problems. And I will do all I can to decrease them.