However, I Have A Low Opinion Of

The Idea That The Growing Demand For Energy Worldwide Can Be Met With Energy From Nuclear Power Is Nonsense.

Turkey Is Currently Seeking To Make Itself More Independent From Europe And Is Turning To The East. Is That In Our Interest? Does It Help Us Bolster Western Values In Turkey, Or At Least Here At Home? Or Are We Making Ourselves Weaker Overall? At The Same Time, Turkey Is Violating Our European Moral Concepts. It's A Difficult Conflict To Endure, And It Leads To Necessary Disputes And Debates.

In The Past, Germany Could Rely On The French, The British And, Especially, The Americans, To Assert Our Interests In The World. We Have Always Criticized The U.s. For Being The Global Police, And It Was Often Appropriate To Do So. But We Are Now Seeing What Happens When The U.s. Pulls Back. If The U.s. Leaves The Room, Other Powers Immediately Walk In. In Syria, It's Russia And Iran. In Trade Policy, It's China. These Examples Show That, Ultimately, We Are No Longer Achieving Either - Neither The Dissemination Of Our European Values Nor The Advancement Of Our Interests.

Less And Less Is The Question Being Asked As To Whether Developments Are Taking Place In A Democratic And Free Way. Europe Is In A Phase In Which This Output Is No Longer Sufficiently Visible Or Tangible. Youth Unemployment Is Still Far Too High, We Still Haven't Solved Our Currency Problem And Living Conditions In Europe Are Drifting Apart. That Is One Reason Why Critics Say That Our Europe Is Based On Yesteryear's Model.

It Isn't Easy For Everyone In Germany To Make Ends Meet Through Well-paid Work In Germany. You Have To Have Sufficient Skills And Work Hard. And I Also Know That We Have Much Too Much Poverty And Inequality Here. Still, Our Parents And Grandparents Built An Incredibly Prosperous And Peaceful Country. One Shouldn't, Of Course, Play Down The Degree To Which This Is Dependent On Our Economic Strength. The Truth Is That Moscow, Beijing And Washington Have One Thing In Common: They Don't Value The European Union At All. They Disregard It.