"I feel the need to say first and foremost that we know what a nightmare the people in Paris went through on the night of the 13 November, when they became victims of violence and terrorism," said Angela Merkel in the French capital.

"We share your pain, and we mourn with you," she told our French friends. The attack targeted not only people in Paris. It targeted all democracies and the whole of Europe, said Angela Merkel.

Assured of every support

The Chancellor repeated that Germany is willing, "to give France every support". The first possible measure would be to ease the burden on French troops in Mali, where "France and Germany are already working well together within the scope of the training mission".

G20 - "We must fight terrorism"

Angela Merkel added, "And if the French President asks me to consider what more we can do, then it is our duty to consider this." Angela Merkel said, the Islamic State cannot be convinced with words alone. "The Islamic State must be fought militarily."

The Chancellor pointed to the outcome of the recent G20 summit. "Everybody, and this was tangible at the G20, said, ‘We must fight terrorism’, irrespective of our different ideas of society and social systems."

The French President had invited Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit Paris on Wednesday evening. In a government statement that morning, the Chancellor stressed that this trip, planned at short notice, is a sign of solidarity with our French friends.