Ja, we Germans are jealous Brexit of

First, Europe pitied us. Now, as they face the reality of a resurgent Britain, they fear us – no, not the Mail’s view, but the devastating verdict of the editor-at-large of Germany’s biggest-selling paper...

of other european countries are even worse.

next door in France, President emmanuel macron is fighting a losing war in his attempt to reform the vast and creaking French state, especially its array of unaffordable pension schemes.

a glimpse into the rotten nature of France’s sprawling civic bureaucracy was provided a few years ago by aurelie Boullet, who wrote a book about her experiences as an employee at aquitaine Regional Council.

‘I was getting destroyed by my job because I had nothing to do,’ she said, explaining that her actual work as a mid-ranking administrator amounted to between five and 12 hours a month.

In this culture of institutionalised idleness, she was once told that she had produced a report in the wrong typeface. she was given an entire week to change the font, though the task took her only 25 seconds.

spain is no better and has no chance of economic renewal now that, after eight months of bickering and paralysis, the country has a socialist government propped up by the radical left. It is a similar story in Italy, which is stuck in perma-recession and where the state machine is hopelessly inefficient. There, as in France, attempts at reform have floundered.

Only this week, in an extraordinary judgment about a case that symbolises the mess Italy is in, an Italian court sided with a portly policeman who had been caught on film in 2015, clocking on for work in his underwear.

THE case was brought as part of a crackdown on skiving officialdom, but the policeman, who lived in a flat above the station, successfully argued that actually putting on his uniform was part of his working day.

That kind of nonsense is typical of europe, where too much of the state machinery is a selfserving racket.

a glance across the Channel to Britain is enough to make me sufficiently envious to reach for an aspirin — invented a long time ago in Germany — to quaff with the Champagne.

I see a government with a solid, one-party majority, compared to all the fragile coalitions of europe. I see a nation with a strong sense of purpose, built on trust in its own capabilities, and a powerful economy. Indeed, according to the International monetary Fund, Britain will be the fastestgrowing G7 economy in europe over the next two years.

I see a vibrant, open place that can attract huge amounts of foreign investment, has an unrivalled record on business start-ups, is a global pioneer of scientific and genetic research.

I see a country that has an unrivalled financial services sector, enjoys a vast cultural reach through language, music and the arts and contains several of the world’s great universities.

at times, when I consider Britain, I am reminded of the bullish atmosphere that prevails in the fast-growing asian economies.

It is all a graphic contrast to the sluggishness of europe. When it comes to football, all the best talent is rushing to england, where the Premier league is the most attractive in the world.

While Britain is going through an astonishing cultural renaissance, reflected in the huge popularity of your entertainment industry and the expansion of major art galleries like london’s Tate modern, in Germany a new socialist law on national heritage is so heavyhanded on transactions of valuable art and antiques it is effectively killing the market.

The most interesting person I spoke to at the award ceremony in Berlin was andrew Gundlach, scion of one of Germany’s most famous banking families, the arnholds, and now President and co-CeO of Bleichroeder llC. He is a shrewd man with a deep understanding of the geopolitical scene.

Did he think the outlook is grim for post- Brexit Britain? He laughed at the question.

‘The whole point of Brexit was to align with the high growth of america and China and not lowgrowth europe,’ he said.

What sends cold sweat running down the spine of european policy makers, he added, is a vibrant, talent-attracting economy right on europe’s doorstep, with rulebooks more liberal than the eu’s.

The last time I visited Britain to gauge the spirit of your country for my newspaper BIlD, I travelled north, to Teesside.

To my surprise, I found local politicians and businessmen talking of low-tax ‘freeports’ and new opportunities, and people in pubs ridiculing the doomsayers in the south. Decades of eu membership had seemingly done little for prosperity there.

more than one person told me that things might well get better, ‘once we’re out’.

They could well be right. europe fears a truly global Britain.

Diehard Remainers still cling to the belief that Britain will stumble, that the forthcoming negotiations on a trade deal will prove tortuous.

I am not so sure. With only ten months of talks left, Britain is in a far better position than most here on the continent dare to admit.

In Boris Johnson, you have a charismatic, election- winning Prime minister who has forced through Brexit partly thanks to the sheer force of his personality and his ability to outmanoeuvre his opponents.

In the process, he has repeatedly defied his critics. They said he would never persuade the eu to re- open the Withdrawal agreement, drop the Irish backstop or reach a new deal.

HE

ACHIEVED all three — and I believe he can do so again with a trade accord. european politicians used to push around Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa may.

now they are confronted with a leader who really is too ‘strong and stable’ to be bullied.

The eminent historian niall Ferguson recently said: ‘I think Brussels has not really adjusted to the new situation, but they will adjust when they realise that Britain isn’t about to be rolled over the way it was because of the way may was negotiating.

‘We will see a very different tone to these negotiations.’

The Champagne at these selfcongratulatory diplomatic receptions is starting to leave a sour taste.

Your future looks bright. I’m not so sure about mine.