The image this study gives our stadiums in Germany or abroad does not correspond at all to reality: these stadiums have in place the most efficient security measures possible.

convinced that Germany was committed to seeing through its modernizing policies, and that the friendship between Germany and France remained the indispensable motor of European construction.

The fact that other people are worse off than us is certainly cold comfort for those in Germany who have to count every cent.

Germany must be a country which generates political ideas and leadership, which is capable of compromise, which is sovereign and yet knows that it needs its partners on both sides of the Atlantic.

When one considers the fact that 2.7 million tickets have been sold and that around 15 million fans applied for tickets on the Internet, the proportion of those prepared to give up their tickets is only in the region of 2 percent.

This affects German football overall, but it isn't specifically a theme for the World Cup.