Not sure 'European project' will work: Merkel

BERLIN - Agence France-Presse

REUTERS Photo

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "optimistic", but could not be certain that the "European project" would work, in a video interview published on Wednesday.
 
"We have of course not yet organised the European project in such a way that we can be sure it will work, work well. That means we need to keep working on this. We have much to do, but I am optimistic that we will succeed," she said.

Speaking in an interview broadcast on the website of her conservative CDU party, Merkel added Germany could only do well economically when its European partners are prospering.
 
"Therefore we are working so hard to overcome the debt crisis and the competitiveness crisis," she said.
 
Merkel added that Germans largely shared the "fundamental principles" that she operated under, namely "no solidarity without corresponding effort and no guarantees without control".
 
"This encourages me to continue with these principles when we are trying to shape the future of Europe," said the chancellor.

Recent polls have shown that Merkel remains one of Germany's most popular politicians and that the German people broadly approve of her crisis-fighting strategy.
 
Merkel said her time living under a dictatorship in the former communist East Germany continued to inspire her.
 
"The experience of freedom drives me. I lived for several years in East Germany. I know what it means when one cannot travel freely, speak one's mind freely," she said.

"I think it is great that we surmounted the Cold War, that we no longer have fear of war in Europe and that we can try to convince others of our values in the European community," she said.