Quotes from Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer

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

I have the feeling we are the most uptight nation that ever walked this earth.

It's hard to pigeonhole me.

I have to do my work as party leader and that's what I'm concentrating on.

Spain is an example of how hard it is for a conservative party to campaign for elections if the suspicion is fueled that it wants to go into a coalition with the extreme right.

If there is a sport that I'm not particularly fond of, then it is synchronized swimming.

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.

You always stand on the shoulders of your predecessor.

If the military is to show the capabilities that we demand and expect of it, then the defense budget has to continue to rise.

I am a big fan of the following priorities: first the country, then the party and then the person. I believe that this gives credibility and I want to be credible.

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.

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

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

If the U.K. had new watertight proposals for the border, I don't think anyone in the E.U. would say, 'We don't want to talk about it.'

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

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

I stand here as the mother of three children, who knows firsthand how difficult it can be to combine family and a career.

We have to be strong in ourselves. Whoever defines themselves only through their opponents risks making their entire programme... dependent on others.

My husband and I had a very pragmatic agreement right from the start: whoever earns more works full time. So we switched the classic roles.

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.

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.

We have to acknowledge and discuss with citizens that Germany needs to take on more responsibility. One of the questions is, 'Can we keep a functioning international order?'

There comes a time in everybody's life when it's no longer enough to point and say he or she should do it, but you have to answer yourself... That's why I put myself at the party's service.

I support social market economy. But it only works if there is fair competition.