watch it online at the c-span video library with over a quarter century of politic and public affairs on your computer. last month 100 germans gathered for a town hall meeting with angela merkel. she answered questions on germany's economy, national security and concerns over extremist groups. this is an hour and 45 minutes. >> translator: ladies and gentlemen, warm welcome to this first meeting with the chancellor and others.

i'm glad that you came. and the chancellor, dr. angela merkel is going to be our host tonight. [ applause ] >> translator: mrs. chancellor, we want to talk today with the people, our guests and how we're going to live together in the future. it's a citizens dialog. i know that you always talk to the citizens. but the format is different. >> translator: first i'd like to thank you for coming and also for the ones who couldn't make it. we're going to change our roles today. here i came to listen to you. to hear your ideas. of course, it doesn't exclude that if you ask me questions, i might answer. i came here for information and advice. how do you want to live together? maybe not the way we live

together today but what's going to happen to us in five years' time, in ten years' time. i think it is probably good to see what doesn't work today and how we can change it for the future. so the question today is how do we want to live together in the future? >> translator: so this is important, you say, that on a daily basis the chancellor has to deal with policy. but it's good to think about the future, what am i going to o do with my children, with my grandchildren. so we were the first stop. we thought where to go, what cities. should we go in a small village or in a big city. we decided for a mid-size town and we thought that this city should be either new states and air fort is a nice city. but also it was with a lot of

diversity and we thought that this area could be a good start. and the kaiser's shall the emperor's, probably a good place. the media was enthusiastic. so it was a good choice. then we're going to two others. all three being mid-sized cities. >> translator: you all look good, ladies and gentlemen, really good. the room is empty, nobody can hide. we have the three big themes and it's written on the carpet here. generations, number two, security and safety, number three identity. we're going to start with generations. we are going to probably start with the small video to start the discussion. here's the video.

♪ ♪ >> translator: living together in germany is getting more and more diverse. of course, the family is the key to personal luck and change. but the family is changing. for me, the family is to be together, to support each other in tough times. belonging. that's a big part of my family. i think that it's no use having children. you have to work so hard to eek a living and having children on top of it, no way. the requirement for modern life are changing. very often it's at the expense of the family. expense of the children to --

very often existing families have a hard time. the birth rate is getting lower and lower and we have less and less children. life is getting faster and faster. there's more and more to do in our profession. we have less and less freedom. more and more families are out of breath, let's say. and now they are in a new stage where people establish partnerships, have children, but everything is difficult. it's difficult to reconcile everything. older people who have a lot of social skills and would like to help very often live alone or in old folks home. so how can we overcome all these obstacles to a family life? how can we bring young and old

together? what structures should we build for the next generation and be responsible for each other? >> tla germany's future, first the theme generation. who is responsible? who takes responsibility? who commits one? we're going to start with this gentleman here, microphone is coming. wait. and then this gentleman with the red tie. >> translator: mrs. chancellor, times are hard. of conflict. i think there's a lot of unemployment. i think that what we should have is something which is going to o

make us safer. what can we do about t? well, thank you. what was your name again? >> wait for the mic, please. >>. [ stating name ] >> for the last three years, i've been working about the crisis socially. so you think we should all have a common solution. >> i've seen on the internet, your topic the one you're working on is a basic salary for any citizen is a topic that is discussed all over society in germany today. it's a theme for today. but of course, for that, if we were to give a basic salary to everybody, would have to

increase taxes. but it's a question. and of course, some people could work on top of that and earn more and others would not go to work. because they have a basic income. of course, it would be something for the safety of your life and your living. but i mean, it's something to b. >> translator: the gentleman with the red tie. who are you please? introduce yourself. but you think we would live better with the basic income, yes? i'm a farmer. i'm coming from the countryside. 70% of the population in this state live in the countryside. we work a lot in agribusiness. i think it's the second largest

industry in the land. there's a lot of potential in the countryside and people don't pay attention to it. why? for instance, we could extend a greek culture. we could use more land. we have the land. we do not have enough cattle, for instance. we could grow the agriculture, we could use the renewable energy that comes from agriculture. and we could probably reform the old farms and give jobs for the old generations. because there's quality of life in a countryside. what really is close to my heart is that in the future, since we're talking about the future today, how do we live together in the future? we should not neglect the potential of the countryside. more than we did until now.

i fear that, among all the big problems in the world, this is not one of the big ones. you're right, you're right. it is true that at least half the population of germany lives in the countryside and of course, this is a question where to see how they can go shopping, what is the quality of the communication network. how can we improve with the internet coverage for instance their quality of life. i think we're going to take aboard your proposal. let not forget about the countryside. of course, if people were to leave the countryside, this would have terrible consequences for the big cities. >> translator: lady -- >> marion zaba.

i'd like to talk about volunteerism. i'm coming from the old tradition of volunteers. it's a commitment of mine. and we have problems when we're volunteers. especially when we're talking about generation. i have learned to be a volunteer. and very often young people are not attracted by volunteers. i think we should have different generations. we should push people to be volunteers in all different ages. we should create the conditions for that so that young people are more recognized. we should not judge people. we have a lot of volunteers in our town. we have even a foundation for

volunteers. but the structure is extremely heavy. i used to work for an administration and the laws are so complicated that people are not interested in becoming volunteers. >> translator: sir, you would like to make it easier to be volunteers. >> translator: yes. i don't know if it's possible to change the rules and the laws, but could we take into account the different skills. for instance, people have federal jobs for volunteers, that was a great thing. but we should have more security if we are volunteering. there is, for instance, paragraph 26 about responsibility in germany. i think that we would gain, if we were to simplify, to streamline the rules so that we would be more protect itted

generally and we could be volunteering without all this difficulties. for instance, you could give us a tax holiday for 100 euros if we were volunteers. >> translator: the tax code, the rules and the law in order to protect your responsibility and thirdly, the fact that we should probably intervene also in the pension laws to recognize, for instance, your professional career. >> translator: the two young ladies. you wanted to say something? you have a proposal to make for the chancellor? >> translator: i'm a student in erfurt. i'm in 12th grade and i'm interested in education. i talk to a lot of people. i took part in the online dialog and i see that in germany