United Kingdom and Gibraltar European Union membership referendum
all articles
Brexit discussion, next round. This time, however, Maybrit Illner went a long way and asked: "EU in the struggle for survival - and Germany is watching?" It was also about the German-French relationship and the dissatisfaction in the south and east of the EU. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, SPD, played the role of the man in the hot seat.
The evening's Brexit discussion: Greg Hands, Tory Member of the British Parliament, had already been to "Anne Will" in January, calling for more EU readiness to negotiate with Theresa May. There he knotted seamlessly. The "core of the problem is not only in London, but also in Brussels". The agreement was not acceptable to many British parliamentarians. "We have to work together" so that it comes through the lower house.
"To push that to Brussels, I think not quite fair," said Heiko Maas. There is already a contract between the EU and the British government, the problem is the dispute in London. He hopes the agreement will be "put to another vote". If it is rejected again, he considers an extension of the Brexit deadline to be "unlikely" (read more about the recent EU decision on a Brexit postponement here).
The circle of the evening: A customs union with the EU, in the UK no longer had a seat - not a good idea, found Greg Hands. And he explained that in the same words as in January: "If you do not have a seat at the table, you're probably on the menu." It was hard to show that the Brexit discussion revolves around a circle: the talk show as Sisyphos, which always starts from scratch. Right, then, to open the view. How is Europe?
More about SPIEGEL +
The play of colors of the evening: Sabine Thillaye, member of the Macron movement "En Marche", lamented the black painting at the beginning of the program: the upcoming European elections as a fateful election? The Franco-German relations mau? Dirk Schümer, European correspondent of the "Welt", was touched: With the UK, the EU would be amputated "a piece". First he spoke of an arm, later of a leg - but no matter what, what grows. He did not want "black-and-white", but Brussels was "required to reform". Maas sprang to Thillaye and accused Schümer: "They have whitewashed quite neat." In Germany, the mood is pro-European.
These comrades of the evening: politicians to rub the statements of party friends, is a popular talk trick. The former ARD France correspondent Ulrich Wickert did it, the Maas also chipped ("Regrettable that we really have no German foreign policy", there was "too little revival of the European idea in the political debate in Germany, excuse me, sir Maas! "). And Dirk Schümer also did so by quoting Maas's party colleague Martin Schulz with a pungent pessimism. Maas: He is "not always in agreement" with all his party friends.
The friendship of the evening: The submission again accepted Maybrit Illner thanking and promptly quoted one of them, Sigmar Gabriel, with the statement that the Franco-German engine stutter even more. "I definitely do not share that," Maas said. The German-French friendship not only lives, it "develops visible products". But Macron's proposals had been rejected, said Illner. And not even by the Foreign Minister, but by the CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. After all, Maas could rely on Sabine Thillaye: "That was not so received in France." Maas: "That's not what Mrs Illner wanted to hear." In any case, German-French friendship lived here.
The weatherman of the evening: engine, nice and good, said Dirk Schümer. But Europe also has "wheels and a trunk", other countries. Just look at the latest election results in the Netherlands! The EU needs less bureaucracy, it has to take care of youth unemployment. Around bleeding villages; and doctors who are leaving Romania, while those who are left behind are supposed to "treat themselves with a cup of tea" - that's what it's about when it comes to the EU. "Populist language!" Maas railed. "As if there were no doctors in Romania anymore." Schümer: "I'm more of the weather forecast and say: There's a rain threatening, if you want a sermon, you have to go to church!"
The Maas demand of the evening: And Hungary? Another construction site. How to keep up with Viktor Orbán? The question also wanted to help Maybrit Illner Maas. However, he clarified the need for clarification with the conservatives. And went even forward: Who threatens the basic value canon of the EU, which one must be able to cut the EU funds. "That's the only language you understand there."