Speech (extract) by Angela Merkel

Speech (extract) by Angela Merkel

‘The European Union is the best answer to the great challenges of our time—challenges which individual countries can no longer master alone. Globalization is not something that we must fatefully surrender to. No, we have the chance and the duty to form globalization. For this we must combine our political strength. Only in this way will our European model of economics and society assert itself in times of globalization. […] We want to retain our model of European society and continue to develop, because we are convinced of its rightness, because its benefit is tangibly perceptible by the people—in economics, work, political and private life. This benefit continues to result from the successful combination of freedom and ordered competition on one hand and from social responsibility and solidarity on the other. In this context there are challenges to be met on every level.’