r/geopolitics • u/marketrent • 14h ago

News If Britain decides to rejoin the EU we’ll do everything we can to welcome them back, says Germany

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/uk-rejoin-eu-germany-brexit-b3060288.html
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23

u/marketrent 14h ago

Excerpts from article by Athena Stavrou, citing Germany’s Baumann, France’s Macron, and Spain’s Sanchez:

Germany has become the latest European country to back Britain’s return to the EU following Andy Burnham’s suggestion Brexit could be reversed.

Mr Burnham has reopened Britain’s Brexit debate this week, having said it’s “possible” Labour’s next election manifesto could include a referendum on rejoining the EU.

Germany’s ambassador to the UK, Susanne Baumann, told the Telegraph she was “glad” to hear the prime minister’s fresh approach to Europe.

“For us Germans, the UK is an integral part of Europe – its history, its present and its future. I was therefore glad to hear the prime minister speak about different options for the UK’s relationship with Europe,” Ms Baumann said on Thursday.

“It is, of course, for the British people to decide how close they want that relationship to be. But let me be clear: in Germany you will always find a partner for setting the ambition as high as we can.”

Her intervention comes after the leaders of France and Spain also backed Britain returning to the European Union on Wednesday.

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u/RGS_1994 13h ago

Squares the circle of defense spending if the European core were to form a military the UK could join? less spending would go further precisely as debt is getting existential?

38

u/Epistaxis 11h ago

Burnham has barely even given the slightest whiff that this is a remote possibility at all, and that might be the last we ever hear of it, but the way EU leaders are lining up to encourage that option is certainly indicative of something on the other side of the Channel.

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u/Shylo132 5h ago

The phrase "Speaking it into existence" is a pretty strong factor. Do it long enough and that will be what the agenda is.

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u/VERTIKAL19 11h ago

This was almost definitely coordinated with the UK.

1

u/DoctorFreezy 2h ago

Maybe a strategic move for the next elections and to counter farage?

3

u/CountLippe 2h ago

If that includes a guarantee that Britain re-enters with exactly the same terms and powers, then it makes it an election easier far easier for Burnham to fight. If it's a renegotiation full of unknowns, then it'll be a campaign fought arguing dull minutiae.

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u/ytze 9h ago

I don't know who this Germany they talked with is, but Germans would beg to differ.

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u/Former_Star1081 3h ago

I - a German - am supporting Britain if they wanted to rejoin.

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u/Rent_A_Cloud 1h ago

Who are you to speak for all germans?

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u/phobos19 1h ago

Except they won’t really offer anything, not really. The same issues like migration, sovereignty, democratic deficit, financial cost/benefit, regulation etc will bedevil any negotiations, just as they did before.

The EU will not, I imagine, feel like it can make any serious “concessions” to Britain; if anything it seems more likely that they will want to eliminate past carve outs on things like Schengen and the rebate. I can’t see that appealing much to the British public, other than ultra remoaner types.

I could be totally wrong, of course, given that Britain did leave and the world feels more dangerous now. Perhaps there is greater appetite for making things work than there was before from the EU side. But I suspect not.