The agony of Brexit – for us Germans

In the early hours of 13 December, I called my newspaper in Berlin and suggested we run a piece about what might happen on Brexit day, 31 January 2020. For a second the line went strangely quiet. ‘Hello? Last night’s result means Brexit,’ I said to my colleague. ‘It’s really happening.’ I imagined the news slowly penetrating her mind. It took a while to sink in and no wonder. Throughout the years of obstruction and stagnation in Britain, many of us in Germany allowed ourselves to think Brexit wouldn’t ever happen.

More than any other European nation, we Germans have been in denial about Brexit. There’s a widespread idea here that Brits and Germans belong together. Yes, the Brits are a bit eccentric, but they’re part of the family — the kind of cousin who visits for granny’s birthday, drinks too much beer and tells jokes. We imagine you appreciate our jokes, too.