Germany needs the UK to stay in Europe
I HAVE much respect for the British and their country. I have lived and worked in Britain several times and always enjoyed my time there. my mother is english, but some of the attitudes I come across make me wonder in what century some Britons live. I read the foreign press as part of my job and came across a reader’s letter making the snide claim that germans ‘want to boss everyone about’. Well, whoever wrote that cannot have met many germans. Why this generalisation about ‘the germans’? Our country has, as such, existed for only 170 years and although you can legitimately talk of a ‘german identity’, germans from different parts of the country are as different as chalk and cheese: Bavarians, Swabians, Rheinlanders, east Frisians, Berliners and thuringians are all german, but have as many differences as similarities. In many important ways there is no such thing as ‘a german’. As for the claim ‘the germans want to dominate europe’, I wonder where that fantasy started. granted our Chancellor, Angela merkel, does take a leading role in the EU, but that is because we germans like things to work properly if we are involved in them — we don’t like wasting our time, and are less than impressed by the organisational skills of many other EU members. Can you imagine the EU being run by greeks or Poles? Just visit their countries to see how good they are at organising pretty much anything. I am broadly in favour of the EU because I believe that, on balance and despite its many flaws, it is still a viable idea. europe is certainly better off with the EU than without it. I should like to see Britain remain a member, if only because without Britain’s stabilising influence there is a danger the old power tussle between France and germany could recur. When I was last living in Britain, Ukip was often in the news, and I was never too impressed by the intellect of many of its spokesmen or their grasp of european history. they seemed more interested in dealing in a kind of Little englander wish fulfilment than taking stock of the realities faced by all european nations and the necessity for us to work together. Still, we have our own idiots in germany, so we can only hope that, in the long term, sense will prevail.
JOHANNES ABRAMS, Berlin. AFTER 42 years in the motor trade, I can spot a dodgy salesman when I see one, and Dave and his piece of paper bearing the signature of Dodgy Don tusk is just such a vision. When I started in the retail motor trade in the Sixties, salesmen would call on our dealership selling pads of warranties. they were works of art, printed on parchment-style paper, in beautiful copper-plate text, often with a heraldic device at the top and a motto such as ‘together we can do a deal’. the text was wonderful, full of ‘best endeavours’ and ‘strive to achieve a just outcome’. But the smallest of small print always said: ‘In any dispute, the dealer’s decision is final.’ By accepting this warranty, a buyer’s legal rights were signed away, a practice now illegal — except in the case of EU negotiations. the big problem for Brexit is Operation Fear. this is the best opportunity since the war to launch a new great Britain. We have nothing to fear from being our own masters again; for most of our history we’ve done very well, thank you. What an opportunity for all of us from different ethnic, cultural or religious roots to unite as we have in the past and forge a revitalised Britain looking out to the rest of the world. If, as I hope, we vote to leave the EU, some people will feel it’s wrong for them and go. those who remain will do so because they want to: let’s get started. PETER EDWARDS,
Southampton.