I have friends in politics who really put the friendship to the test through their behavior.

I spoke with Gerhard Schröder about a lot of things, including foreign policy. Schröder knows how important European policy is to me personally. I have worked together with Angela Merkel on European policy for many years, so I was surprised when Volker Kauder who has little experience in European policy, claimed that I had not represented German interests in Europe. That's an example of how the conservatives conduct an election campaign.

For German Social Democracy, Europe is vital to the national interest.

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

The share of wealth held by the minority is much greater than the share held by the majority. We have to draw our own conclusions from that and it has to change.

It was a Russian airplane that was bombed over the Sinai Peninsula. When the Russians conduct air strikes on IS, they are doing so because they too are threatened by terror.

If you say in advance there is going to be a main candidate and then that doesn't count later, then that's going to be a highly problematic occurrence in a democracy.