"The Jamaica coalition will not hinder my European project"

"I do not think a possible Jamaica coalition in Germany will block my European project. In both the Greens (Die Gruenen) and the Liberals (FDP), Europe's support is in their party's DNA, so I hope, "said French President Emmanuel Macron in an interview with Spiegel.

Asked about AfD's rise in Germany, he replied that it was just a voter response, which he also said to Chancellor Merkel. However, he stressed that "there must be a fight against AfD, you must not be reluctant to these people. The only answer is courage. "

The French president also revealed that the reason he spoke about Europe in the Sorbonne on 26 September, just two days after the German elections, had agreed with Chancellor Merkel in detail: "I spoke with her both at the end of the election period and election night. In fact, he also received the text of my speech previously. I wanted to avoid talks in Germany that would have forced the Chancellor to take distance from my speech, "he said.

Mr Makron also expressed his publicly friendly attitude to Chancellor Merkel and added that "there is an unconditional willingness to understand each other in this relationship."

For his role as chairman he told Spiegel that he meant "the end of innocence" and that he "completely changed his life": "Everything I do, I say, even what I am not saying, suddenly matters."