The euro is our common fate, and Europe is our common future.
I will not let anyone tell me we must spend more money. This crisis did not come about because we issued too little money but because we created economic growth with too much money and it was not sustainable growth.
I believe those that produce the least emissions in autos will also be those who have the greatest success worldwide.
We Germans have a special responsibility to be alert, sensitive, and aware of what we did during the Nazi era and about lasting damage caused in other countries. I've got tremendous sympathy for that.
It is nonsense to say that Germans are unable to change.
Solidarity and competitiveness are the two sides of a European coin.
For me, personally, marriage is a man and a woman living together.
I have a relatively sunny spirit, and I always had the expectation that my path through life would be relatively sunny, no matter what happened. I have never allowed myself to be bitter.
Spying among friends is never acceptable.
It's my damn duty and obligation to do everything possible for Europe to find a united path.
I felt really sorry for Oliver Kahn. Up to that point he had made lots of saves for the German team. Of course he could have caught the ball but it just happened. It was bad luck. In that situation, you need to be very strong psychologically to carry on.
The markets want to force us to do certain things. That we won't do. Politicians have to make sure that we're unassailable, that we can make policy for the people.
We've stated very clearly that no negotiating chapters between the European Union and Turkey will be concluded before the Ankara Protocol is complied with: that's to say before Turkey grants all E.U. member states, including Cyprus, access to its ports.
Nobody in Europe will be abandoned. Nobody in Europe will be excluded. Europe only succeeds if we work together.
The only thing the East German system taught us was that we should never do it that way again.
Let me say this on a personal note. Without the United States of America, I would in all probably not be able to stand here before you today.
We needed 40 years to overcome East Germany. Sometimes in history, one has to be prepared for the long haul and not ask after four months if it still makes sense to keep up our demands.
I've learned that even the word 'jubilee' used in connection with the Reformation can give rise to discussions.
We will have to accept a certain degree of legal immigration; that's globalisation... In the era of the smartphone, we cannot shut ourselves away... people know full well how we live in Europe.
If you wish to have free access to the single market, then you have to accept the fundamental rights as well as obligation that come from it.
