Schroeder was in office; he no longer has a majority, … He must go.

We are ready to sound out the situation with the Social Democrats. But in order to have formal grand coalition talks in which we would negotiate all the details of legislation, the Social Democrats have...

The CDU has the right to name a chancellor. The SPD are not yet ready to accept that. Schroeder has made them his emotional hostage.

I’m sometimes astonished at how much the German voter can take of this. It’s like a powder keg that has no clear trigger.

We have the hardest week ahead of us. That’s clear.

Before we can move forward to coalition talks, it must be clear that the CDU/CSU has the right to the chancellery. The SPD is not yet ready for that.

Can you explain to your own supporters what you are doing, bearing in mind a coalition they did not want, but which has been forced on us by the electorate?

I see it as a step toward stability that we need to explain to the Social Democrats to stick to the rules,

In many areas much more is necessary than is possible with the Social Democrats. There is only a minimal consensus between the two large parties.

I see it as a signal for Angela Merkel.

We are not satisfied,

The Chancellor is seeking, in my view out of an unbelievable mixture of arrogance and overconfidence, to claim he won the election. But the truth is both camps didn’t achieve their goals,

A lot of my friends are foreigners. The public doesn’t like the plan to give 4 million foreigners German passports. They believe that will hinder the efforts to integrate the foreigners.

There is a leap from sounding each other out to coalition talks. In doing that, it must be clear that the (Christian Democratic) Union has the right to propose the chancellor and will nominate Angela...