QUESTION: Since the crisis in South Ossetia we have heard more and more talk about NATO’s eastward expansion, and you in particular have said that Georgia and Ukraine should be welcomed into the NATO membership action plan as soon as possible. In this context, did you discuss the creation of a new collective security system in Europe? President Medvedev presented this initiative during his visit to Berlin. Could this initiative receive Germany’s support?
ANGELA MERKEL: As far as this initiative is concerned, we have received the documents. We will discuss this matter again during the dinner tonight. Given the very busy agenda we simply did not have time to talk about this yet, but tonight we will have the opportunity to discuss it at dinner. I am interested to know of course how this initiative would work in practice and how it would fit into the structures that already exist today.