Quotes By Angela Merkel

This multicultural approach, saying that we simply live side by side and live happily with each other has failed. Utterly failed.

Nobody in Europe will be abandoned. Nobody in Europe will be excluded. Europe only succeeds if we work together.

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.

As politicians we have to react to the fact that many people do not feel that they can relate to the EU.

When it comes to human dignity, we cannot make compromises.

Whoever decides to dedicate their life to politics knows that earning money isn't the top priority.

It is nonsense to say that Germans are unable to change.

We're saying this to both countries: We want a two-state solution. We want a Jewish state of Israel and alongside a independent Palestinian state. Unilateral measures are not helping at all to bring about this cause, and we agree that we wish to cooperate very closely on this, because as we both say, time is of the essence.

Personally, I think that for example the chemical directive in its present form does too much damage to the chemical industry - especially the medium sized businesses - and will hurt our worldwide competitiveness.

I have just explained my idea of how a constructive period of reflection, one that would send a clear message to the citizens of Europe: You should now what our priorities are. For Germany this means: Unemployment is one of one of our biggest problems.

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.

Thus, the focus on this main political goal must become more visible in EU politics and to achieve this, we need a political impulse. It must be clear what the priorities on the agenda are.

I said, yet again, for Germany, Europe is not only indispensable, it is part and parcel of our identity. We've always said German unity, European unity and integration, that's two parts of one and the same coin. But we want, obviously, to boost our competitiveness.

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.

At the beginning of the 60's our country called the foreign workers to come to Germany and now they live in our country. We kidded ourselves a while, we said: 'They won't stay, sometime they will be gone.' But this isn't reality.

I don't carry any early childhood trauma around with me, if that's what you're hinting at. The story of the bicycles - and there were three of them which were stolen from me - I've dealt with it well.