Insight
What the German elections mean for Brexit by Christian Odendahl and Sophia Besch 30 August 2017
The German elections will not affect the outcome of Brexit, whatever coalition partner Angela Merkel may choose. There is currently a lot of speculation in Britain over whether the results of the German election will affect the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. Some senior Conservatives expect Germany to intervene to help the British. We lay out different electoral outcomes and their implications through a series of questions and answers. How big a role does Brexit play in German political debate right now? Contrary to what readers of the UK news media may believe, Brexit hardly features in the German election campaign. If it comes up at all, it is usually mentioned in the same breath as the election of President Donald Trump, as an example of triumphant right-wing populism. Most German voters still have a very hard time understanding why British voters decided the leave the EU. They fail to see how retreating from a club of like-minded democratic countries gives Britain more control. They look at the security challenges in Europe’s neighbourhood and the disdain that Trump has for Europe’s institutions and values, and see a need for more co-operation in Europe, not less. Don’t Germans understand that Britain is not leaving Europe, just the EU? For many Germans, that statement does not make any sense. For them, the EU is the only way to co-operate permanently and effectively in Europe. Of course, in theory, the nations of Europe could work together without common institutions. But German history is filled with conflicts that show how this works (or does not work) in practice. This may be hard for many people in Britain to grasp, but the EU is a core German national interest. Are all parties in Germany equally pro-EU and disapproving of Brexit? That would be quite bad for Britain. All the major parties are strongly pro-EU, by British standards. The differences between them on European issues are subtle. The Social Democrats (SPD) and The Greens are more federalist and more CER INSIGHT: What the German elections mean for Brexit 30 August 2017
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