ANNEGRET KRAMP-KARRENBAUER

We made a clear commitment to NATO's two percent goal. I know that we can't get there from one day to the next, but I'm just as clear on the fact that we must get there in the end.

The CDU was a party that united different denominational and ideological currents. If the idea of a rightward shift means that we ignore those roots and only define ourselves as a conservative party, then I am strictly opposed.

Anything that keeps the U.K. close to the E.U. and best of all, in the E.U., would make me personally very happy.

With every wish to take Europe forward with a German-French nucleus, the proposals must always fit with German interests.

We need strategic strength for our industry, technology and innovation, a sense of security for our European citizens and common foreign and security capabilities to defend our interests.

The strength of Europe at the end of the day has always been that we stuck together and that demands a great amount - probably even more so than in the past - of discussions, of balancing, of bringing along individual countries.

For me there is no conservative and liberal party, not one that is pro-economy or pro-workers, not one for the East and one for the West. For me, there is only the one union, the Christian Democratic Union, that is our family.

Being a people's party cannot mean being a kind of all-purpose political shop that offers something for everyone.

There will certainly be times when Merkel and I will have opposing viewpoints. Just the fact that government work adheres to a different set of prerogatives than a party does makes conflicts unavoidable.

Europe cannot be only the receiver of strategic decisions of others, that is China or the U.S.A. We have to be strong ourselves to shape the global rules.

There are high hurdles for expelling someone from a party, and with good reason.

You always stand on the shoulders of your predecessor.

When Presidents Trump, Putin and Erdogan are mentioned in the same breath here in Germany, as they are all too often, this is a false equivalence that cannot be tolerated.

When it comes to me, I can rule out that I am scheming for a change.

Europe - and in particular Germany - must assume more responsibility. We must be ready to take on this responsibility and that has consequences domestically. That means, for example, we must be ready to spend more money on defense at home and abroad.

When it comes to social issues such as the role of the family, I'm certainly more conservative than Angela Merkel. But on the big questions on what direction and where Germany should develop, when it comes to the economy, then we have very similar views.

My goal is to unite the party, to bring it together.

I think people see me as authentic, just like I am, with my ideas, my style of doing politics.

We will look at the entire immigration question from the protection of outer borders through the asylum procedures to integration, in particular its efficacy.

We need to be at the forefront of technological development again.

There are also parties in Germany that support leaving the E.U. Everyone can see in the example of Britain what consequences that would have.

My life won't be ruined if I don't achieve all of my political goals.

If we have political forces in the Bundestag, and in parts of the coalition, who... say they want to spend money on pensions, not weapons. Then I say, be honest and say you don't want a German army.

Our feeling of community and security in Europe requires safe external borders.

Brexit has been a strain on all of us. In some ways it has paralysed us.