We in Europe need to discuss how we can improve the community. That is the correct order.

Our balanced budget has an important psychological function. It is a signal that we can't continue to constantly take on debt.

I don't want to change Islam, but if there is to be a European Islam, it must incorporate European values.

About three million Muslims live in the country, but we have no relationship to our diverse Muslim society, despite the fact that it's an established part of our larger society. We need to build a stronger foundation for the relationship between Muslims and the state.

It's understandable that Europe's Muslims are in a difficult situation, which is partly their own doing and partly not.

I don't want to interpret the pope's words, especially as I am one of those horrible people who fell away from the Roman church after Martin Luther.

At the moment we are facing a whole collection of difficult to forecast developments from the situation in China and the oil-price crash to the worrying news from some banks in Europe and the US. All of that is linked: Worldwide company debt is high and there is a lot of money in circulation. That is why necessary structural reforms are not being made.