GERMANY MADE a major effort yesterday to get the United Kingdom back on board for next year’s European Union treaty negotiations during a London meeting between British foreign secretary William Hague and German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle.
Speaking afterwards, Mr Westerwelle declared: “It is essential no one give up on Europe. I am here to say that Great Britain should be part of Europe, that we are in this together. doesn’t mean we give up. We don’t give up our common goal as we have common interests.”
While Mr Hague stressed that many other issues were discussed, Mr Westerwelle made clear that his visit was principally aimed at resolving differences between the UK and other EU states in the wake of the Brussels summit 10 days ago.
“For Germany, the UK is an indispensable partner in the EU and there is no doubt for us that we want to make the next steps in the EU together as 27, and with Croatia as 28. We think we have a common destiny,” he said, adding later, “You count on us, and we count on you.”
The strength of Mr Westerwelle’s remarks clearly illustrate Germany’s desire to get the UK back into upcoming talks as a full partner, not just as an observer. They come after a conversation last week between German chancellor Angela Merkel and British prime minister David Cameron.
Repeatedly, Mr Westerwelle, who spoke in English in an effort to make sure that his remarks made the largest possible impact with British TV stations, emphasised that he had come to “build bridges over troubled waters”.
The EU, he insisted, did not have designs on the City of London, saying that German, French, Spanish and Italian banks had invested heavily there.
Drawing on his own past and that of Germany, Mr Westerwelle, who is 50 later this month, sought to explain to British public opinion the central importance of the European Union for his country: “Europe is more than just a currency.”
The EU had helped Germany deal “with the darkest chapter of our past”. Reunification, for Germans, was not just “reunification of Germany, but also the reunification of Europe”.
“For us Europe is not only our destiny, it’s also our desire, it’s a lesson we learned. And so, please understand, for us, Europe is much more than a currency or a single market.”
Mr Westerwelle said this was “not the first time that we have to find answers after a controversy and we will find answers once again, yes we will. This is our goal and this is our duty and we will make it.”
Mr Westerwelle told a story from his own experience, saying he had gone into a small shop in rural France during a camping holiday with some friends in Brittany in France when he was a teenager.
“I went into a single-room shop to buy something, together with my two school friends, 14-15 years old, and there was a lady, she was very old . . . and she started to cry.
“She saw me: very fair hair, blue eyes, slim,” he said, adding that he had spoken with “a horrible” French accent.
“When I tried to speak French, she started to cry and went back into the kitchen and then her daughter came out.
“She was about twentysomething, thirtysomething and she said to us young, three boys, this has nothing to do with you, it is because my father, her husband, was killed by the Germans in the second World War,” Mr Westerwelle said, to considerable effect on his listeners.
