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.

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.

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,

It is a fact that, if I single out Germany, our rate of growth is too low and we have very high unemployment.

I've often made critical comments about settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank and in east Jerusalem, and my position hasn't changed. At the same time, it's equally important to me that the two sides, both Israel and the Palestinians, work towards a durable peace settlement: that's to say a viable two-state solution.