We are living through an epochal shift. If we aren't careful, the elementary foundations of our pluralistic democracy will be threatened.

I firmly believe that the inequity [in society] is enormous. The people have the feeling that you are allowed to do anything if you are rich. But if you're poor, you have to pay. We [Europeans] have to counter this.

We now have two options: We can commence operations at the Hotspots in Italy and Greece and continue to do nothing - in which case they would soon be overflowing. Or we can show responsibility and organize a distribution system that takes into account the limits of each individual member state. Migrants, for their part, must recognize that, while they have a right to protection, they do not have the right to freely choose the country. In addition, it is clear: Not everybody can come to us.

Imagine a German as president of the European Commission. If he or she goes to some particular country and says do this or that, it won't be very well received. The president quickly ends up being the evil German. But if the president is elected by and controlled by 700 representatives from all EU countries, that legitimizes him or her in a very different way.

We have to engage in a dialogue with Donald Trump because he is the elected president of the United States of America. But we have to emphatically oppose his foreign policy ideas.

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

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