We need to be at the forefront of technological development again.
— Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer
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.
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 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.
If the military is to show the capabilities that we demand and expect of it, then the defense budget has to continue to rise.
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.
European centralism, European statism, the communitization of sovereign debt, a Europeanization of social systems and of the minimum wage would be the wrong way.
For a long time, perhaps too long, we believed that the world around us would become more and more peaceful, and the order more stable.
I think people see me as authentic, just like I am, with my ideas, my style of doing politics.
I stand here as the mother of three children, who knows firsthand how difficult it can be to combine family and a career.
My goal is to unite the party, to bring it together.
I learned what it is to lead - and above all learnt that leadership is more about being strong on the inside than being loud on the outside.
It should be clear to everyone what happens when the populists can set the agenda.
But I stand here as my own person, as a mother of three, as a former interior minister, state leader, who has served this land for 18 years and who has learned what it means to lead. And that leadership has more to do with inner strength than how loud you talk.
Being a people's party cannot mean being a kind of all-purpose political shop that offers something for everyone.
When it comes to me, I can rule out that I am scheming for a change.
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.
I support social market economy. But it only works if there is fair competition.
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.
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.
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.
The CDU is willing to continue to take responsibility for our country. We want to do justice to the government mandate.
Freedom of opinion is a valuable asset in a democracy.
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?'
Our feeling of community and security in Europe requires safe external borders.
I have to do my work as party leader and that's what I'm concentrating on.
The CDU is a party with more than 400,000 members. The fact that each one has a different opinion is what makes us interesting.
I have read a lot about what I am and who I am: 'mini,' a copy, simply 'more of the same.' Dear delegates, I stand before you as I am and as life made me and I am proud of that.
We have to be strong in ourselves. Whoever defines themselves only through their opponents risks making their entire programme... dependent on others.
To those who cynically say today that liberal democracy would be 'obsolete,' I reply: liberal democracy, human rights, freedom of the press and the rule of law were the right way, are the right way, and will be the right way.
You always stand on the shoulders of your predecessor.
I have the feeling we are the most uptight nation that ever walked this earth.
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.
I believe that we must attach greater importance to the issue of industrial policy in Europe.
I am convinced that we need a stronger Europe that acts in a common agreement on the most crucial issues. For me these are safety, defense, innovation and the aim to maintain our well being.
My life won't be ruined if I don't achieve all of my political goals.
If there is a sport that I'm not particularly fond of, then it is synchronized swimming.
It's hard to pigeonhole me.
You don't restore people's faith in law and order with shrill tones, but with real policies.
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.
There are similarities with Angela Merkel, there are issues that separate us, and I'm showing that genuinely and authentically and won't create an artificial separation because it has something to do with character and attitude.
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.
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.
With every wish to take Europe forward with a German-French nucleus, the proposals must always fit with German interests.
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.
We will look at the entire immigration question from the protection of outer borders through the asylum procedures to integration, in particular its efficacy.
There are high hurdles for expelling someone from a party, and with good reason.
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.
That the CDU has different political views on the topic of redistribution, on the topic of uniform social standards... than the French have, that is nothing new.
