Britain may have lost faith – but Germany still believes in the EU

Theresa May’s Florence speech may have been welcomed with cautious optimism by Michel Barnier, but the reaction in Germany has been decidedly more downbeat. ‘In substance, May is bringing no more clarity,’ tweeted German MEP Manfred Weber. ‘I am even more concerned now.’ Weber is Chairman of the centre-right European Peoples Party, the biggest grouping in the European Parliament, and a rising star in Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union. So does he speak for Merkel? Well, that would be pushing it, but while ‘Mutti’ maintains her deafening silence about all matters Brexit, it’s probably the closest we’re going to get. ‘The clock is ticking and time is running faster than the government believes in London,’ added Weber. ‘EU citizens in the UK need legal certainty.’

The German press has been a bit more positive – but not much. ‘Briten wollen Freunde bleiben,’ (Britons want to remain friends) is the headline in the Suddeutsche Zeitung, Germany’s equivalent of the Guardian.