Is the uncharacteristic sangfroid in the face of Brexit based on mistaken assumptions?
With five weeks to March 29th, Germans are worried – about everything but Brexit.
Commuters fear inner-city bans on diesel cars. Politicians are fighting over renovating – and digitising – German schools. Police are battling criminal Arab clans. Brexit features in the media, but in far less detail and frequency than in Ireland.
Among politicians and business leaders, their attitude and utterances about the UK on Brexit haven’t changed since 2016: shame, but let them go. An Irish business delegation, led by former taoiseach Enda Kenny, had a rendezvous with this German reality at a recent breakfast in Berlin with Bundestag MPs.
“They told us Brexit is not among their top 10 political concerns,” said Ralf Lissek, chief executive of the German-Irish Chamber of Industry and Commerce, who led the group. “I have the impression the visiting Irish were relieved to hear they weren’t in the top five, but a little nervous to hear they weren’t in the top 10.”
Please read the full article by Derek Scally, Irish Times, 25/02/2019