Germany stands at the crossroads where it is about whether we will preserve what makes this country strong: a social market economy in times of globalization, a policy of people in times of the threat from terrorism.

It will be possible to form a stable constellation that will keep Germany on its reform path for four years.

This grand coalition would mean a standstill for Germany. I firmly believe that a grand coalition would not tackle anything that really would bring Germany ahead.

Germany cannot go over Poland's head,

the country will for the first time be governed by a radical who... will try to destroy the German model of consensus politics.

The people in East Germany have lived through so many changes in the last 15 years like never before in the country, and they did this often with great enthusiasm. But in the West we also have a high degree of transformations.