I'm a firm believer in the monetary union.

My job is not to predict everything that might happen in the future, but to address what we can do today.

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.

I don't know how many resolutions from the IMF or G-20 we have already written saying that such [financial] reforms are necessary for new growth.

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.

It is true that no member state can be required to make payments to others. But if countries want to offer voluntary assistance, as in the Greek case, this isn't only allowed, but it's also in Germany's interest. We all benefit by ensuring the stability of the euro zone.

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.