I suggested that countries with tighter finances think about such a [fuel] tax. We don't have the time at the moment for months of discussion.

A number of politicians, including those within your own party, believe Germans would be safer if the German military didn't insert itself into so many of the world's hot spots.

I would caution against fueling cheap populism. First of all, every German who has spent a vacation in Greece knows that the standard of living there isn't higher than it is in Germany. Second, Greece is paying a high price for European assistance.

We are facing a whole collection of crisis-like developments that we have to watch closely. But we also have to be careful what we point to as crisis indicators.

For Martin Schulz, the chancellor candidate for the center-left Social Democrats, friendly wishes don't go far enough. He would like to see much more enthusiastic support for Emmanuel Macron than that shown by Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose comments so far have tended to be reserved. As she put it, she doesn't see a need to change her policies because of Macron.

The significant collapse of oil prices shows that it was previously way too high.

Emmanuel Macron wants to see changes in France and we support him in that. Macron has proven his courage by leading an election campaign friendly to Europe and reform against the majority opinion of the Socialist Party.